From the Ashes
by Tonight's The Night
Summary: Separated from her friends after her duel with Zuko in the Spirit Oasis, Katara realizes that her best chance of finding Aang and her brother is to become Zuko's prisoner. But when Zuko stops treating her like a captive and starts treating her like a comrade, she begins to realize that he may not be the monster she thought he was. Zutara.
1. Duel at the Spirit Oasis

Chapter One

"Is he okay?" Yue asked softly, peering down at Aang as his tattoos began to glow.

"He's crossing into the Spirit World," Katara said. "He'll be fine as long as we don't move his body. That's his way back." She took a deep breath, surprised again at the lush, earthy scent of the Spirit Oasis. They'd arrived in the Northern Water tribe three weeks ago, and Katara had since grown used to the salty air. It hadn't taken long after Pakku had agreed to take her on as a student for her to begin thinking of this place as a second home. _It must be the sea, _she thought with a pang of yearning. _Even all the way across the world, the ocean smells the same. _

"Maybe we should get some help," Yue whispered, moving toward the tunnel they'd crawled through to enter the oasis.

Katara caught the other girl's hand before she could stray more than a few paces, shaking her head. "No. Aang is my friend. I'm perfectly capable of protecting him." _Especially now that I've had a chance to learn waterbending. _

"Well," said a new voice. A terribly familiar voice that sent a thrill of fear through her chest despite her newfound skill. "Aren't you a big girl now?"

Katara spun to see Zuko sneering at her, dressed in an off-white snow-suit which dripped water even as the air around him rippled with heat. "No . . ." she whispered. _Not now. Not __with__ Aang stuck in the Spirit World. Zuko __can't be here _now_. _

_ But he is, _whispered a colder, more logical part of her brain. _And you're the only one who might be able to stop him. _Her body slid into a mist-stance—a versatile stance that favored quick attacks and solid blocks. Hands raised, she pulled a stream of water from the oasis, feeling the push and pull of it, the surging power.

Across from her, Zuko took a fighting stance, heat creeping through the air like poison. "Hand him over and I won't have to hurt you."

* * *

_"A waterbender has more raw power when fueled by great emotion, but a _master _waterbender channels those emotions into controlled strikes," Pakku said, guiding a thick stream of water from a hole in the ice. Katara studied the angle of his wrists, the motion of his arms. He had broken his people's customs by teaching her, so she would be the best student he'd ever trained. _

_ "It's not wrong to feel passionate when you fight," Pakku went on, moving the stream in a winding spiral around him, "but you must be as rigid as a glacier in your control." Suddenly, he shifted his feet, arms jerking hardly an inch. The minimal movement didn't seem to matter; the water whipped around, shooting straight toward Katara. Instinctively, she raised her hands, falling into one of the stances Pakku had gone over her first day. As the stream shattered into a dozen shards of ice, Katara brought her arms back in a circle, breathing out and willing the ice to melt. It did, the ribbons of water holding their form for an instant before reforming as she caught the water whip and let it twist around her body._

_ "Very good," Pakku said, his lips quirking up in a smile that was part pride and part challenge. "But your feet are too close together." He raised his arm, ripping the water whip from Katara's grasp and bringing it back to circle around him. "Control. If you want to win a fight, you must always remain in control of your element. The moment you lose control of it, you hand over any advantage you may have had." He let the stream slide back into the hole. "Now, let's __practice__ our mist-stance, shall we?"_

* * *

"Yue, run," Katara whispered, tamping down on the fury surging through her veins, turning it to ice. Behind her, she heard the princess retreating through the tunnel connecting the oasis to the city. _Now to deal with him, _she thought, eyes narrowing as she met Zuko's eyes. "I'm not giving you Aang."

Something flickered in Zuko's eyes. Not anger. Not fear, though with what he'd seen of her waterbending before today, he had no reason to feel afraid. No, the look there seemed almost . . . pleased? Excited?

She didn't get a chance to find out. Zuko's leg shot up, an arc of fire flying from his foot. She moved her arms sharply downward, then up and around, pulling a globe of water from the Spirit Oasis and throwing it between her and her enemy. The flames crashed against her malleable barrier, steam exploding outward with a hiss.

Distantly, Katara hoped that the spirits wouldn't mind if she used up some of their water, considering she was protecting the bridge between their world and hers. She flung the water in Zuko's direction, hands slicing through the air as she shaped it into an arc. Surprise flickered in her opponent's eyes as the water crashed into him hard enough to send him toppling over.

* * *

_Her blast of water knocked her opponent to the ice hard enough to make his jaw crack._

_ "Good," Pakku said, circling around as the sparring match escalated. "Press your advantage. Pin him while he's down."_

_ A part of her shied away from the suggestion—hi__tting her opponent while he was down seemed wrong, especially considering that this wasn't a real fight, but a sparring match. Pakku had outright told them not to injure each other._

_ She hesitated an instant too long, and her partner regained his footing, drawing water from the puddle left by her attack and using it to blast her before she could counterattack. She hit the ground hard, ears ringing from the impact. _

_ "Enough," Pakku said, standing over her. His disappointed expression made her wilt, and he didn't even have to make any disparaging comments about how he shouldn't have taken a girl on as a student for Katara to know that was what he was thinking. Shame washed through her. "Get up, then," Pakku said. "Unless you need to go to Yugoda to have those bruises healed." _

_The comment stung worse than the impact. Blushing furiously, Katara got to her feet. "I'm fine." _

_ Pakku made a sound of disdain, but jerked his chin toward the cluster of students he hadn't yet paired up to spar. Shamefaced, Katara sat. _

_ She wouldn't hesitate again._

* * *

Katara hesitated. Just for an instant as Zuko hit the ground. The old part of her—the part that had grown up in a village where every set of hands was needed, where harming one another was strictly forbidden—wanted to hold back, wanted this one strike to be enough to show her opponent that she couldn't be easily overcome.

That part of her, she thought as a wave of fire rolled toward her, was far too merciful. Annoyed with herself, she moved to defend, bringing up a wall of ice that cracked and fizzled as the fire hit it. Heat rolled over her shoulders. "I see you've learned some new tricks," Zuko called, back on his feet. "But I didn't come this far to lose to you."

"Well, _I _didn't come this far to lose to _you,_" she said, arms moving in rapid circles as she pulled several narrow water whips from the oasis and sent them shooting toward Zuko from different directions. He blocked the first few almost contemptuously, but as they swarmed around him, one got through his defenses, striking hard at his side. This time, Katara pressed her advantage, pulling more water from the pond, coaxing it to wrap around Zuko and freeze solid. The end result was a cocoon of overlapping pieces of ice, imprisoning the very person who had worked so hard to capture Aang.

_ Let's see you try to break out of that one, _Katara thought, then froze as she saw an orange glow from inside the shell of ice. Desperately, she slid back into mist-stance, imagining the rapidly-melting ice solidifying. But even as she pushed back against the invading heat—heat she could feel within the water itself, the same way she could feel the way water flowed even when she wasn't actively controlling it—seeping outward, toward the outside of the prison she'd made. Steam started pouring from gaps in the top of the shell. _Can't . . . hold it, _she thought, gritting her teeth.

An instant later, the ice shattered, flying outward in every direction as her opponent broke free. He tilted his head up toward the sky, and Katara glanced up automatically. Horror dawned as she saw the sun creeping across the gap in the ice where the oasis was nestled.

"You rise with the moon," Zuko said, fire blooming above his hands. "I rise with the sun."

* * *

_"The legends say the moon was the first waterbender," Yue said. "Our ancestors saw how it pushed and pulled the tides and learned how to do it themselves."_

_ Awed, Katara looked up at the waxing moon. "I've always noticed my waterbending was stronger at night."_

* * *

The sun. Katara stared at it, her breath ripped from her lungs. _Of course. If I gain power from the moon, firebenders must gain power from the sun. _Her eyes snapped to Zuko as he lunged forward, and she instinctively drew water from her water skin, sending it toward him in a jet. He dodged, moving nimbly across the lush grass and sending a plume of fire in her direction.

Katara dove to the side, coaxing the water from the pond into a protective wave, but the fire burst through her feeble defense, scorching her arms as she threw them in front of her face. Her body flew backwards, tumbling as it hit the ground. Pain wiped away all coherent thought, like ink smearing across a scroll dropped in the river. Katara fell, black dots dancing in her vision. "Aang . . ." she whispered, raising one arm. Red streaks on her hands marked the places where she'd been burned by the blast, and if it hadn't been for the hard landing, that pain might have held her attention. As it was, she was too disoriented to focus on any one thing until she saw Zuko—just a vague outline to her blurred vision—grabbing Aang by the collar and dragging him away, toward the other end of the oasis.

_No, _she thought, crawling forward. The searing pain in her hands made her gasp whenever she used her arms to pull herself along, and ahead of her, she saw Zuko glance back. Hesitating. Just as she'd hesitated after knocking him down. She froze, a sudden paranoia gripping her. Would he strike her down? Burn her to death so she couldn't follow him? He was a firebender, and a particularly evil one at that. Surely he'd take the chance to finish her off. Surely he was not capable of mercy.

He stared at her for several seconds. Not at her face, but at her arms, where she'd been burned. She remained absolutely still, as if she could make herself disappear. He stared, and she stared back, and Aang hung limp in Zuko's grip, tattoos still aglow as his spirit quested out in a world Katara couldn't see.

At last, Zuko turned away, leaving her alive and unbound as he dragged her best friend into the icy tundra.

* * *

_Author's Notes:_

_Hello, everyone! Wow, it's been a long time since I've been in this fandom (long enough for me to be sufficiently embarrassed by my earlier works and advise you all to pretend they don't exist). I have to say, I forgot how much I loved this series. I was recently able to rewatch the whole thing, and it just astounds me that something I loved so much a few years ago is even more relevant and fascinating to me today. More surprising still, I think, is the fact that despite all the other stuff on my to-do list, I'm still eking out time to write a fic that will probably turn out to be absurdly long and make me remember why I need to finish some of my older stories before I get invested in any new ones. _

_Anyway, I like to start out every fic with a rough explanation of what sort of story I'm planning to tell, as well as give any content warnings that may make said story unsuitable for certain readers. This fic starts out mirroring the events of "The Siege of the North," but it will diverge almost immediately in terms of plot (and in fact does so starting in the next chapter). I understand that the fact that I stuck closely to canon events here may be off-putting to readers who are looking for something more original, which is why I added in a couple flashbacks to Katara's waterbending training (well, that, and bending the elements is probably the most awesome aspect of the show, at least in my eyes). I may occasionally do mini-flashback scenes like these if it's relevant to the story, but I don't plan on making it a regular thing (that said, I'm what you might call a "discovery writer," so for all I know, it might happen a lot. Who can say?)._

_Other things of note: I do plan on adding explicit sex scenes later in the story, and I promise I've gotten a lot better at that sort of thing since I last attempted A:tLA fanfiction. There will also very likely be some intense violence, possible character death, and a more cynical tone than the show contains (of course, A:tLA is still a kid's show, despite it's mature handling of war and death, so this is somewhat of a given). The primary romance is going to be Zutara, but there will probably be other romance subplots in here, none of which I've even begun to plan yet, so . . . yeah. But mainly Zutara. _

_That's pretty much it for now. Thanks to everyone who's read this far, and I look forward to hearing what everybody thinks. _


	2. Scaling the Ice

Chapter Two

Body blazing with pain, Katara crawled toward the pond. _You won't be able to go after Zuko without healing first, _she told herself, plunging her burnt hands into the water. Energy flowed from the pond into her body, then back as the water around her hands began to glow. The pain receded like the ocean pulling back when the tides changed. _There's so much energy flowing through this pond, _she thought, pulling her hands out of the water and letting the liquid cling to them like gloves as she healed the bruises she'd acquired when Zuko's fire blast had thrown her to the ground.

He'd had a chance to strike her down. With her lying there, barely strong enough to crawl, it would have been easy. Yet he hadn't. Why did that bother her? _I should be glad he decided to throw away such a golden opportunity, _she thought bitterly, raising her head to look in the direction he'd gone. She could see him scaling the ice wall at the far end of the oasis, and it frustrated her to be unable to run up to him right now and get Aang back. But she was no good to anyone wounded and slow, so she let the glowing water move across her body, watching Zuko carry Aang farther and farther up the cliff.

_There's no time to get help, _she thought, forcing herself away from the water, although she hadn't soothed away all the pain. She couldn't spare another minute, not with how fast Zuko climbed. _He must be stronger than I thought, if he can carry another person up that cliff. I'll have to catch him off guard. _

That wouldn't be hard, considering that he clearly didn't expect her to follow. Ignoring the aches all over her body, Katara slipped her coat over her shoulders and hurried after him, praying he wouldn't glance down and see her following. She'd have to let him get all the way up the cliff before she attacked. With Aang unconscious, she didn't dare knock Zuko off the wall. Which meant she'd have to climb up after him. _At least it's ice and not rock, _she thought, reaching the base of the cliff and jamming her hands into the solid ice to create handholds with her bending. Glancing up once more at her quarry, she started climbing.

Within minutes, she felt winded. Even after three weeks of intense training, she simply didn't have the muscle mass that Zuko did, meaning that by the time she was twenty meters off the ground, he'd already crested the top. _Stay calm. You'll be able to follow his trail through the snow, but only if you survive the climb. _She dug a deep handhold above her head and pulled herself up, her breathing labored. _Halfway there. Just don't look down. _

She took no chances. Zuko might have been stupid enough to scale this wall without any tools or good handholds, but she was a waterbender, and as long as she could make her own handholds, she would be safe. Still, it was a wonder he'd made it up so quickly, considering he couldn't do the same.

Cold water dripped onto her forehead from above, making her fingers go rigid. She peered up, wondering where the water was coming from. It couldn't be _raining _in the North Pole, could it?

_No, it's the ice, _she realized, catching sight of a few shiny indents in the side of the cliff._ It's melted in places. So he _is _making handholds for himself. Just with firebending instead of waterbending. _She scowled, annoyed that he'd thought of the same solution she had, and more annoyed that he'd done it with fire. But she kept going, pushing her anger aside, keeping her mind as calm as the pond below. At last, out of breath and aching from exertion as much as from her brief battle with Zuko, she pulled herself over the top of the cliff and took a moment to rest in the soft snow.

A quick perusal of her surroundings told her Zuko had already made it out of sight, but the falling snow had limited visibility, and she didn't think he'd gotten _too _far. Katara allowed herself another half a minute to rest, then got to her feet and started trudging through the snow, following the tracks Zuko had left behind. _Didn't expect anyone to follow, did you? _she thought venomously, moving quickly through the trampled snow. Forced to clear a path for himself while carrying Aang, Zuko would be moving slowly. Perfect if she wanted to sneak up behind him.

Still, it took a long time to get close enough to catch sight of him ahead of her. _Firebending to clear a path? _she wondered. But no. If he'd done that, the melted snow would have reformed into glaring patches of ice under her feet. _He must just be plowing through it. But why so fast, if he doesn't think anyone's following? _

The wind howled all around her, tufts of snow gathering in her hair and clothes. She'd lived her whole life in an icy tundra before she'd found Aang, but the Fire Nation was tropical. Though she'd hardly call this weather stormy, Zuko probably thought he'd wandered into a blizzard. _He's moving fast because he's trying to find shelter, _she realized, uncertain whether she should hang back and let him find a place to hide out or follow him into whatever den he could find and ambush him when he left.

Ahead of her, Zuko came to a stop. Instinctively, she ducked toward the ground, hoping the snow would hide her even as she watched her enemy for signs that he was aware of her presence. After a few moments, however, the firebender started moving again, this time with more urgency. "You're not getting away from me this time," Katara whispered, scurrying after him.

As she reached the point in the path where he'd stopped, she understood why he'd paused. An outcropping of rocks poked up through the ice less than a hundred paces away, revealing the mouth of a cave that would make excellent shelter against the wind and snow. Looking closely, she saw a burst of orange light within. Fire.

"Aang!" she yelled, her voice lost to the howling wind. _He's going to burn Aang! _No longer caring about stealth, she sprinting along the path Zuko had cleared, nearly slipping on the crust of ice beneath the snow before she reached the mouth of the cave. She reached out with both arms, melting the snow to either side of her and bringing to her hands as a weapon, then sprang into the mouth of the cave.

And promptly stumbled to a halt when she saw Zuko crouching in front of a weak campfire, hands shaking slightly as he held them over the heat. His head snapped up as she burst into his temporary shelter, shock making even his scarred slit of an eye widen. Next to him, Aang laid curled up on the ground, unharmed, hands tied behind his back, tattoos still glowing softly.

"You followed me," Zuko said with dull surprise. Katara blinked, unsure how to respond. _Oh, yeah, and I saw the light from the fire and thought you were killing my friend, so I decided to burst in here like an idiot without checking to see what was really going on. _Great. That was exactly how she'd wanted this to go.

"Let him go," she said, infusing her voice with all the righteous anger churning away inside her.

"No." Zuko stood, the surprise on his face draining away. He had several fresh burns and scrapes on his face that she hadn't noticed during their fight. Three or four days old, she thought, but still healing. They looked painful, and sympathy stirred in her heart before she could push it away.

"If you don't let him go, I won't show any mercy."

His eyes narrowed. "You don't have to. We might be in the middle of the blizzard, but the sun's still there behind the clouds. You can't beat me." The campfire he'd started flared a little brighter, as if to emphasize his words.

Her eyes narrowed. "Maybe not," she admitted, wishing she'd thought of that before following him here. "But at least I'm not stupid enough to wander into the middle of a blizzard with no way back to civilization."

"I have a plan," he said with an edge of defensiveness that all but confirmed it as a lie.

"Right. And I suppose scaling a cliff and wandering through the snow was all part of this great plan."

His features twisted into a scowl. "You'd better get back to your friends, _peasant_," he sneered. "Zhao's fleet has probably already breached the city wall by now. I wouldn't be surprised if he melted this whole city down."

_Zhao's fleet? _she thought, forehead wrinkling. "You mean you're not behind the attack?"

"No," Zuko said bitterly. "I'm not the only one hunting the Avatar, you know."

"Of course I know that!" she snapped. "But considering that you've chased us halfway across the world, I think I can be forgiven for assuming you're the one who decided to obliterate the Northern Water Tribe."

They glowered at each other in tense silence, each ready to burst into motion at the slightest provocation.

* * *

_"Waterbending is primarily a defensive art," Pakku said, pacing in front of his line of students. Katara stood in the middle, shoulders square, eyes forward. "It is effective for redirecting the attacks of your opponents. However," he spun suddenly, shards of ice flying from his sleeve and striking one of the circular targets he'd crafted minutes earlier, "there is something to be said for striking first, particularly if it looks like you're going to end up in a standoff."_

* * *

Katara broke the stillness first, spraying shards of ice in Zuko's direction. He countered instantly, ducking low to the ground and spinning. His heel scraped against the cold rocks, and a wave of fire followed the movement. As it surged toward Katara, she recalled her ice-spikes and gathered them into a single mass of water which she used to block Zuko's fire. Steam filled the cave, startlingly hot after the weak warmth of the campfire. She reached out, trying to collapse the steam back into water—another technique she'd learned from Pakku, albeit one she continued to struggle with. She managed to pull a trickle of water from the steam before she had to counter several jets of flame. One singed her hair, and she wrinkled her nose at the smell, putting the fire out with her water whip.

"Give up," Zuko said. "You're outmatched and in my way."

"No!" She unfroze a few patches of ice that had gathered near the mouth of the cave and swung the water she gathered from them around her body, moving her arms rapidly to give her next attack more momentum. Zuko's fist shot forward, the punch producing a fireball the size of her head and forcing her to go back on the defensive. _He's gotten better, too, _she realized. _Not as quickly as I have, but steadily since we met in the South Pole. _

They battled, fire and water colliding over and over until the cave filled with steam. Katara tried to use it for concealment, but Zuko always seemed to hear her footsteps, and he kept cutting her off before she could get close to Aang. Not that she'd have known what to do with Aang once she got to him, since she doubted she could carry him even half the distance Zuko had, especially while Zuko attacked her from behind.

When it became clear that hiding amidst the steam would do her little good, she tried to condense more of it into water. But even with the little bit of liquid she managed to extract from the air, she was running out of water to bend.

_Have to keep fighting, _she thought fiercely, yanking another meager stream of water from the steam. A fireball seared it away in seconds, and she let out a frustrated noise. "Stop doing that!"

"I told you to run back to your friends," Zuko said, sending another jet of flames toward her. With no water to block, she was forced to jump out of the way, disrupting her mist-stance. Her foot landed on a slick patch of ice and shot out from under her. She landed hard, then scrambled to her feet just as a hand clamped around her coat sleeve and swung her around.

The back of her head hit the cave wall. This time, she lost consciousness before she could even gather enough water to heal herself.

* * *

_Author's Notes:_

_ A note on Katara's waterbending skills here: Since it's not entirely clear how long the gAang spent at the North Pole to complete their training, I'm going to assume that by this point, Katara has not yet mastered waterbending, although she is certainly a lot better than she was prior to arriving at the North Pole. In real life, it takes months for a person to become proficient in martial arts and years for them to master it. Even assuming Katara and Aang were on a rigorous training schedule—which makes sense, given the deadlines they're facing—Katara would not be a waterbending master after only three weeks of training (which is about as long as I felt would make sense for them to be there before the Fire Nation caught up with them). However, she is very dedicated, which, coupled with a rigorous training regimen, would be sufficient for her to achieve a decent level of proficiency within the time frame I've set up here. I would say that in the actual series, she and Aang would have spent at least another month training at the North Pole—long enough for Katara to become skilled enough to be deemed a master waterbender by Pakku, as we see in the season two premier—and then Aang's training would continue up until the series finale. But for now, we'll say that Katara is about halfway to being a master waterbender. She's good, and she has the tools she needs to continue improving at a steady rate on her own, but it's going to take more time._


	3. Sheltered from the Wind

Chapter Three

The waterbender dropped like a sackful of stones.

Zuko released her wrist, stepping back. He'd flung her into a wall in an attempt to stun her, but the back of her head had hit a rock jutting out from the cave wall, and she'd fallen limp to the ground, the water she'd been bending falling to make a puddle at his feet.

He exhaled slowly, using the breathing technique his uncle had taught him to ward off the chill. The steam had dampened his exposed skin, but the air was cooling rapidly, and already his face felt clammy. _This, _he thought, _wasn't part of the plan. _

He'd had a plan. A vague one, anyway. Sneak into the Northern Water Tribe while they were distracted by Zhao's forces, capture the Avatar, then return to the boat his uncle was on and stow himself and the airbender somewhere until they made landfall. Granted, he hadn't known _how _to get into the city, much less where to go once he got there, but he'd done well enough with that stage of his plan.

Now he just had to figure out how to get back with his prize. He couldn't go out in this blizzard, which meant he needed to make sure the peasant couldn't bend when she woke up. He didn't need her making trouble for him.

He walked over to the fire he'd started, grabbing the small supply pouch he'd tucked away in his clothes and retrieving the ropes left over after binding the Avatar's hands and feet. Then, methodically, he took the waterbender's wrists and tied them behind her back. Watching her fight, it was clear she didn't think to use her feet to bend. Hopefully that wouldn't occur to her if she woke up before . . . before what? Before he cut her loose? He couldn't carry _both _of them back to the ship, and even if he could, he'd have enough trouble stowing just himself and the Avatar somewhere they wouldn't be found. Lugging around the peasant girl wasn't an option, but what was he going to do with her in the meantime? _Can't leave her here. She'll freeze to death. Can't take her with__ me. __Can't leave the Avatar behind. _He let out a low growl. _Uncle was right. I should have planned this better. _

He'd have to improvise. He lifted the girl by her arms and half-carried, half-dragged her to the deepest part of the cave, where she'd be most sheltered from the blizzard. Maybe he _could _leave her, once the storm died down. With her coat and winter gear, she'd be warm enough. Assuming she didn't have a concussion. If she _did, _she might not wake up at all. _That might be better for me, _thought the more cynical part of his mind. _She's the only one who knows where the Avatar is. If she never wakes up . . . _

No. The whole point of capturing the Avatar was to regain his honor. He wouldn't throw it away again by leaving a half-dead girl alone in a blizzard, no matter how convenient it would be. That was the sort of thing his sister would do, and if the past three years had proven anything, it was that he was not his sister.

The girl stirred, moaning softly. Zuko tensed, jumping to his feet, but when she only pulled feebly at the rope around her wrists, he relaxed. "That's twice I've beaten you today," he said as her glassy eyes panned up to his. "You're injured and the sun won't set for hours yet. Don't try anything."

"Water," she mumbled.

His eyes narrowed. "How stupid do you think I am? If I give you water, you're just going to try to escape."

She closed her eyes, arms twitching. Her body stiffened suddenly, as if she'd just realized she'd been restrained. When her eyes opened again, they were unfocused, glazed over. "Please."

He didn't even bother to respond. Instead, he thrust his hand out toward the fire he'd made, making the flames flare up and give off a shower of embers. He sat down, glancing in the opposite direction, toward the Avatar. The boy hadn't moved, and his tattoos continued to give off an eerie glow.

"Water," the peasant repeated. "I need it . . . to heal. My head . . ."

"Heal?" Zuko echoed blankly.

"Waterbending . . . heals," the girl said, seeming to have trouble properly articulating the words. "You didn't know?"

He felt a stab of envy, then a flush of embarrassment. "I haven't exactly taken the time to talk to any waterbenders before."

For a moment, she said nothing. Zuko scowled at the fire, letting the flames rise and fall to the rhythm of his breath. "You can have your water when I leave with the Avatar," he said. There. She could heal herself, and while she was preoccupied with that, he'd find a way back to the fleet with the Avatar.

"You can't have Aang."

"Or I could just leave you here," he said irritably. "And take him with me anyway."

Another silence. The girl curled into a ball, knees pressed against her chest. He waited for her to say something else, but she kept quiet, and the blizzard raged outside, growing worse as the minutes passed. What if the storm didn't die off before nightfall? The waterbender would be at full strength by moonrise, and by then the Avatar would probably be awake. He knew from experience that he couldn't face them both at the same time, and that would be more true now than ever, if the girl's newfound skill with waterbending was any indication.

"Zuko."

His whole body went rigid, and his head whipped around to look at the girl. She stared up at him with a level expression, but her pain was etched into every line of her face.

She'd never called him by name before.

When he didn't reply, she went on. "This blizzard might last a while. A few days. Longer if it's a bad one. You don't have supplies to last that long."

"So what?" he demanded. "I'm not helpless. If I need food, I'll go out and hunt something." He'd never actually gone hunting before, but it couldn't be that hard, could it? He had his firebending. That ought to be enough to take down anything he happened to come across.

"I think I hit my head pretty hard," the waterbender went on, as if she hadn't even heard him. "I don't know if I'll last the night if I don't at least try to heal it, and if I don't do that soon, it won't do me much good at all."

"Well, it would be a lot more convenient for me if you weren't around," he growled, sick of her trickery. Did she honestly believe he'd go out and scoop up some snow for her to use? If he hadn't bound her hands, she'd almost certainly have scrounged up enough water to fight with from the ice crusted on the cave walls.

"I'll make you a deal," she said. "If you let me heal myself, I'll heal your face."

Rage twisted through his gut. He shot to his feet. "It's a _scar_. It can't be healed."

Her face didn't even twitch. "Not your scar. The rest of it. The burn on your chin, those cuts on your face, your black eye. I could heal that if you gave me some water."

Automatically, his hands lifted to the wounds he'd incurred when the pirates had blown up his ship. He scowled. "I don't need to be healed. I need the Avatar."

"I can't let you have Aang."

"Then we don't have a deal."

"_Please_." The word reverberated with anguish, with fear. For an instant, Zuko no longer stood in the cave, but in the palace dueling arena, his father looming over him while he begged for mercy. For an instant, he was that child who had cowered when faced with an insurmountable opponent. Only for an instant. But it was enough to crack his resolve. He looked back at her.

"You'll heal my wounds if I give you water?"

"Yes."

He clenched his teeth, fists tight at his side. "Fine." He got up, glancing back at the Avatar to make sure he hadn't moved, then walked up to the mouth of the cave and gathered up a ball of snow. He dropped it in a pile in front of her face, waiting.

"I'm going to need at least one free hand," she said at last.

Wary, he knelt next to her, carefully loosening the rope around one of her hands, then holding on to her opposite wrist to limit her movements. She slid her free hand on top of the pile of snow, melting it all at once and bending it toward the back of her head, where she'd been hit. Looking closely, he could see the swollen bump above her braid.

The water began to glow as she moved her hand over the wound. He kept a firm hold on her other wrist, but the bulk of his attention was on the way the swelling receded as she worked. The surge of envy he'd felt earlier came back in force as he imagined how much better the scarred half of his face would have fared if he'd been able to heal himself.

It took longer than he'd expected—a full minute for the swelling to go down completely—but still much faster than it would've healed on its own. If it would have healed at all. When she finished, she directed the water toward a nearby dip in the cave floor, letting it pool as she shivered. A sheen of sweat had gathered on her face, and her eyelids drooped with exhaustion. "Thank you," she whispered.

"You're forgetting your end of the bargain," he said, more snidely than was probably necessary.

Her eyes panned up to his. "I haven't forgotten." She started to move her hand toward the water, then inhaled shakily as she struggled to lift it.

His eyes narrowed. "Just forget it. You're too exhausted to bend. I don't want a peasant touching my face anyway."

Her hand went limp, the water splashing back into its puddle. He maneuvered that hand behind her back and retied the ropes pinning them there. She didn't protest, only closed her eyes and curled up, retreating into silence. _She was probably planning to attack you anyway. She'd never _really _heal your wounds. _

"Stay quiet and don't try anything stupid," he told her, only to realize that she'd already sunk into a shallow sleep. He sighed, coaxing his campfire to burn hotter. Even sheltered from the wind, he was freezing.


	4. Dull Embers

Chapter Four

Awareness returned slowly, like water seeping through cracks in the ground. Katara remained still, listening to the mournful cry of the wind, the tiny whisper of snowflakes scraping against the mouth of the cave Zuko had sought shelter in. His fire crackled a few paces away, fed more by his constant firebending than anything he might have been able to scavenge in this weather.

She quested out with her mind, searching for water to bend. She could faintly feel a few small patches of ice on the other side of the fire, near the mouth of the cave, but the puddle she'd left behind after healing herself was gone. _Zuko must have boiled it all away after I passed out, _she thought, irritated.

None of the water was close enough to bend. Not with her hands tethered behind her back. She could bend small amounts of liquid by moving her feet, if they were close enough, but that was self-taught. The vast majority of the techniques Pakku had taught her consisted of movements that required her upper body, not her legs.

After a few moments, she dared to crack one eyelid open. Little had changed, though she couldn't exactly call her memory of the cave reliable, considering how hard she'd hit her head. She saw the fire she'd heard crackling, saw the snow whipping through the air outside the mouth of the cave, saw Aang curled up in the corner, tattoos still aglow. Katara felt a pang of worry. What would happen when he returned from the Spirit World to find that his body was no longer in the oasis? Would he wander, lost and alone, or would he be able to find his way back?

Her eyes flickered to Zuko. He leaned against the wall, arms wrapped tight around his torso to ward off the cold. Every few seconds, he exhaled sharply, producing a small burst of flame from his mouth, and it occurred to her that he was somehow using the technique to warm his body. Even with that, his constant shivering indicated he had little experience dealing with frigid temperatures.

Closing her eyes again, Katara stretched, pretending she was only just waking up. She heard Zuko leap to his feet as she moved and felt a twinge of amusement at his alarm. _My hands are tied, my nearest source of water is ten paces away, and he's _still _afraid of me. _It pleased her to know that, especially after she'd had to beg for water to heal her head. A haze of pain had clouded her mind then, but now she could see his repeated refusal to let her heal herself for what it was: fear. Fear of her, of her abilities, of her resourcefulness.

It was unfortunate, then, that she'd been too disoriented and hurt to take advantage of the moment and escape with Aang.

Zuko watched her closely as she sat up, every muscle taut. "Don't try anything stupid. You won't escape."

Her eyes narrowed. Like she didn't _know _how bad her circumstances were. "Oh, don't worry," she said, making her voice sickly sweet. "I'm not about to do something as idiotic as wandering into the middle of a blizzard with no plan for how to find safety."

The fire at his feet flared bright as his fingers curled into fists. "I had a plan. You weren't part of it."

They glared at each other for almost a minute before Zuko sat down next to the fire, holding his hands inches from the coals. They continued to shake from cold, and his fingertips looked almost blue. Had he seriously forgotten to wear gloves in the _North Pole? _"Your fingers are frostbitten," she informed him.

"I took my gloves off so I could climb that wall of ice."

_So he didn't forget his gloves, _she thought, frowning. She couldn't say why the idea of him forgetting such an essential piece of winter gear bothered her. Perhaps because if he'd actually been incompetent enough not to bring gloves at all, that would have meant that every time he'd overcome her or Aang, it had been because they themselves were also incompetent. _Yes, that's it,_ her mind whispered. _You want him to be clever because if he's not and he's still managed to knock you out twice today, that means _you're _the failure. _"And you didn't stuff your gloves into your bag or something?"

"I dropped them. I was a little preoccupied."

Her expression turned colder than the ice-field outside. "With kidnapping Aang."

She expected him to get angry again, but he only closed his eyes and let his head droop. Shivering, he looked pale and exhausted, and the scrapes and bruises on his face did little to make him look better. _I told him I'd heal those, _she remembered suddenly, a foggy conversation from before she'd healed herself coming back to her. Maybe if she offered again, he'd unbind her hands and she'd be able to escape. "I never did hold up my end of our deal," she said quietly. "I may not be able to heal your scar, but I'm sure you'd feel a lot better if those other wounds were gone."

"I don't need your help."

"Don't you?" she challenged.

"No. I don't." He stood, pressing his fist against the wall. "I finally have the Avatar, but I can't get him home because of the blizzard. Even if there weren't a blizzard, I'd have to deal with _you. _There's always something." His voice softened. "How could you understand it? You've had a waterbending master for how long? A month? I've been training under my uncle Iroh—one of the most powerful firebenders in the world—for almost three years, and I can only overpower you when the sun's up. That's not even factoring in the Avatar. Between both of you . . ." He shook his head slowly, turning away from her. "You're like my sister. Everything always came easily to her. She's a firebending prodigy, and everyone adores her. My father says she was born lucky. He says _I _was lucky to be born."

Katara blinked, startled by the admission, by the idea that _any _father, even the Fire Lord, could be so callous to his own children.

"I don't need luck, though," Zuko went on, his voice quiet. The fire he'd been sustaining had faded to dull embers. "I don't want it. I've always had to struggle and fight, and that's made me strong. It's made me who I am." He exhaled slowly, turning back to her. "I don't expect you to understand."

"You think you're the only one who's had to struggle?" Katara asked. "You think the reason I picked up waterbending so fast is because I'm _naturally talented_?"

"Isn't it?"

"No!" she snapped. "The reason I'm improving is because for the last three weeks, I've spent every minute practicing. It's because after so long trying to figure things out on my own, I finally got a chance to learn waterbending from a real master, and I'm not going to waste that opportunity. I'm good at it because I _worked _for it, so don't you _dare_ imply that you're the only one who's had a hard time of it."

His eyes flickered to her face, all bitterness and anger wiped away by surprise. He stared at her a minute longer, then exhaled sharply, causing the fire to rise up in a column between them before resuming its normal height. Zuko sat down hard, head turned away so she could only see a sliver of the unscarred side of his face. "It doesn't matter anyway. If you were close enough to bend anything with your hands behind your back, you'd have done it by now. You can't stop me. I'd cut you down before you could even come close."

"The day can't last forever," she whispered. "The moon's going to rise soon. I can feel it."

"I know." He crossed his arms, elbows resting atop his knees as the firelight reflected in his eyes. Briefly, Katara wondered if she'd be able to hold her hands over the fire long enough to burn the ropes away and escape. She could heal herself later, as long as she tolerated the pain long enough to get free. It was a way out, and with the moon less than an hour from rising . . .

There had to be a better way. One that wouldn't leave her arms seared to the bone. She'd missed a golden opportunity to escape after healing the bump on her head, but she'd been so exhausted then that she doubted she'd have been able to bend more than a trickle of water. She felt more rested now, so all she had to do was trick Zuko into freeing one of her hands and she could take him down.

"My hands are numb," she told him, gambling that the same impulse that had prompted him to let her heal herself would come to life now.

"My fingers are numb," he said. "But I'm not asking you to come over and heal them for me."

"I think you tied my wrists too tightly. I'm losing circulation in my hands."

His eyes narrowed. "It was one thing when you were obviously wounded and too helpless to attack me," he said, "but I'm not about to untie your wrists now that you've had a chance to recover."

"I'm not trying to trick you," she lied. "I could lose my hands if these ropes are too tight."

He studied her for a moment, then stood up and circled around her back, his ice-cold fingers closing around her forearms as he lifted them for inspection. Her spine stiffened, every part of her rebelling against having a known enemy behind her back. She could feel the heat of his breath just faintly against her neck. "The ropes aren't leaving ligature marks," he said at last, dropping her arms. "You're fine."

"How long do you plan to keep me tied up like this?" she demanded.

"As long as it takes."

"As long as it takes for _what_?" She scrambled to her feet only to have him snatch her upper arm and pin her to the wall, his free hand pressed against the stone to stop her from twisting free of his grip. Adrenaline pulsed through her veins, a frisson of fear shooting through her anger, like a chasm opening up in an ice field. She felt the heat of him pressing against her back, his core temperature like a boiling lake compared to the chill of his fingertips. For the first time in hours, she remembered all the times she'd been terrified of him, all the times that luck had saved her and her friends from a far worse fate. Before, her waterbending had been so weak that she'd been almost helpless in a fight. Hands bound, away from any good water source, that terror came back in force, until she was pressing her face against the wall of the cave just to get away from him.

He released her, stepping back. Humiliated, she sank to her knees, not even looking at him.

"You don't have to be afraid of me," he said at last. "As long as you do what I say and don't interfere, I won't hurt you."

She said nothing, refusing to admit she'd been scared, refusing to face him. "I hate you," she whispered.

Zuko didn't even pause before responding. "I know."


	5. Zhao the Moon-Slayer

Chapter Five

Zuko had only just knelt by the fire again when a brilliant blue light burst through the mouth of the cave. He shot to his feet, hands rigid in front of him as he took a cinder-stance. The blue light gathered as a ball of energy that collided with the Avatar's chest, illuminating his whole body for a fraction of a second.

"Aang!" the waterbender yelled, scrambling toward her friend. Zuko stepped between them, holding one hand out, flames dancing above his palm.

"Don't get in my way."

She didn't shrink away from the flames, but rather darted behind his back, trying to squeeze between him and the wall as she rushed toward the Avatar. The airbender groaned, sitting up with a dazed expression. "Where . . ."

"Aang, run!" Katara yelled. Zuko spun, elbowing her hard in the stomach, then raising a curtain of flame between her and the Avatar as she staggered back.

"Katara!" the boy cried, shooting toward the fiery barrier. Zuko shifted into a more aggressive dragon-stance, fire blasting from his fist as he sent a punch in the Avatar's direction. The airbender avoided it easily, gliding up and hopping along the wall of the cave, seemingly unaffected by gravity. As he darted around, the boy found a sharp piece of rock jutting out from the cave wall and dragged his arms across it, shredding the ropes binding his hands, then using his hands to untie the bindings around his ankles. Zuko felt a surge of frustration.

"You're coming with me," Zuko growled, spinning his fists in a tight circle; flames poured from his knuckles, the spiraling movement creating a ring of fire that crawled along the cave walls. The Avatar jumped over the flames, spinning midair and landing on his feet with a _whoosh _of air that dispelled a section of the flames.

"Let Katara go."

"I don't think so," he said. Not when he could use her to his advantage. He made the line of fire burn hotter, sending a wave of heat rolling through the cave. "If you come quietly, she won't be hurt."

"Aang, run! I'll be fine! He's not after me!"

_Annoying peasant, _he thought, shooting a series of fireballs toward the Avatar. The boy dodged each one, his eyes never leaving the girl's face, even as she desperately shooed him away. Zuko sent a stream of fire in his direction, hoping the force of the blast would knock him out long enough for this storm to pass, but the airbender sent a blast of wind back at him, and the fireball dissipated before it hit its mark.

"The moon spirit is in danger!" the boy yelled, looking between them. "If I don't get to it in time, then the world will be thrown even further out of balance!"

"Just _go, _Aang!" the waterbender shouted. "The moon spirit needs you more than I do right now. I'll be fine. I can fight him."

For an instant, the Avatar hesitated, eyes darting behind him, toward the exit. Zuko kicked up a wall of flame to block his path, but of course the airbender glided right over it, shooting out into the blizzard like an arrow. Gone.

Zuko rounded on the waterbender. "You let him escape!"

"Of course I did! I'm on _his_ side, remember?"

His lips twisted into a snarl, a dozen particularly vulgar curses running through his mind before he made a sweeping kick and sent an arc of fire into the cave wall. The waterbender jerked back, startled, though he hadn't even been aiming at her. "Why did you have to follow me?" he demanded. "Why couldn't you be smart and go back to your friends after I beat you? Why did you have to track me all the way here and ruin everything?"

"Why did you have to track us all the way from the South Pole?" she countered, lunging forward.

He raised his hands to defend himself, then remembered that she couldn't bend with her hands tied behind her back. Or, at least, she couldn't bend well enough to defeat him, so long as he was careful not to let his guard down. His fury ebbed, replaced by calculation. He grabbed her by the arm, yanking her toward the mouth of the cave. "Come on," he said, pulling her out into the storm.

"Where are you taking me?"

"Back to the fleet. I'm going to use you as bait."

* * *

Zhao stood at the edge of the pond, clutching the wriggling sack that held the moon spirit. "I am a legend now," he said, glory surging through his chest like fire. "For generations, the Fire Nation will tell stories about the great Zhao, who darkened the moon. They will call me Zhao the Conquerer. Zhao the Moon Slayer! Zhao the _Invincible_!" He raised the captured spirit above his head, displaying it for his soldiers to see. He couldn't see their eyes through their helmets, but every one of them seemed to stand a little taller as they looked on. _This, _Zhao thought, _is the day I become the most famous admiral in history. _

At the height of his moment of glory, something soft and dense collided with the back of his head. He swung his arms wildly, sending plumes of fire into the air as the mass shifted around to the front of his face, scratching at him. "Get it off! Get it _off_!" Growling, he batted it away, mouth tightening when he recognized it as the Avatar's lemur. The creature swooped through the air, flapping its wings once as it perched itself on its owner's shoulder.

The Avatar took a fighting stance, his non-bending companion raising a boomerang a few feet to his left. _So the Avatar arrives. Perhaps I shall neutralize two great enemies today. _Zhao grinned, raising the moon spirit up higher and positioning his fist as if to sear it to death right there. "Don't bother."

The airbender hesitated, sliding out of his fighting stance. "Zhao, don't!"

_Foolish child. _"It is my destiny to destroy the moon spirit and the Northern Water Tribe."

"Destroying the moon won't _just _hurt the water tribe," the Avatar said, as if pleading for him to understand. "It will hurt everyone, including you. Without the moon, everything will fall out of balance. You have no idea what kind of chaos that would unleash on the world."

"He is right, Zhao," said a new voice. A new, _old _voice. Zhao's lips quirked up at the corners.

"General Iroh," he said coolly. "Why am I not surprised to discover your treachery?"

"I am no traitor, Zhao. The Fire Nation needs the moon, too. We all depend on the balance." When Zhao didn't release the spirit, Iroh's voice sharpened. "Whatever you do to that spirit, I'll unleash on you ten-fold. Let it go _now_."

It startled him to hear such raw rage in the general's voice. As much as he'd taunted the old man on the ship, he hesitated now. Iroh was a firebending master, the legendary Dragon of the West. A sliver of him cowered in fear of those legends, and without thinking, he released the koi fish back into the pond. It circled, twirling about in the water like living silver.

_No, _he thought, eyebrows slanting. _No. I will not let those childish fears from keeping me from my destiny. _He brought his palm forward, striking fast with an arc of fire. The oasis hissed as it struck the surface, and in spite of the triumph surging through his veins, in spite of the glorious path laid out before him, he felt a peculiar. . . emptiness as he watched the dead spirit rise to the top. As if something essential had disappeared from the world.

When he tilted his head up toward the sky, the moon was no more.

* * *

The sky darkened, and Katara felt her legs fold beneath her. "Quit struggling," Zuko snapped, dragging her several inches through the snow before glancing down.

Katara shuddered, nausea twisting through her stomach as if she'd just made three sharp loops through the air on Appa's back. Unable to break her fall with her hands, she slumped against the snow bank, gasping. It felt like something had been ripped from her chest. _What's happening to me? _

Instinct had her reaching for the snow with her waterbending. Her body knew that an injury so gut-wrenching and painful had to be healed immediately, or else . . .

_I can't feel the snow, _she realized, clarity streaking through the muddled agony of her mind. Desperate, she reached within herself, trying to remember Pakku's lessons, trying to find the twisting pathways of energy that allowed her to bend. She felt . . . nothing. Nothing but a terrible yawning chasm where her bending was supposed to be. "My bending is gone."

"That can't be good," Zuko said.

_Wow, didn't actually think he'd agree with me, _muttered some distant part of her mind. Then she realized that he wasn't responding to her words, but staring up at the sky. At the place where the moon should have been. It was gone.

"I think I'm going to be sick," she whispered, pressing her face into the snow as if the cold would actually help with her nausea.

"We need to keep moving."

"_We_?"

"Do _you _want to stay out here in this blizzard?"

"I'd rather stay here than go with you," she spat, wishing she could think of a more biting reply.

He scowled at her, the scrapes and bruises on his face making him look even more fierce than normal. Then, to her utter shock, he crouched down and wrapped his arms around her midsection, throwing her over his shoulder like a sack of grain. "What are you _doing_?"

"It's easier than dragging you through the snow. If you _do _get sick, try not to throw up all over my snowsuit, peasant."

_So we're back to "peasant," then. _"You're not going to get away with this. As soon as Aang restores the moon spirit, he'll come looking for me." She prayed he'd fix it soon. With the moon absent, every waterbender had lost their ability to bend. And if they couldn't bend, the North Pole would fall to the Fire Nation. _That can't happen. Aang _has _to be able to save the moon spirit somehow._

"Good," Zuko said. "That's what I was hoping for." He trudged through the snow, ignoring her feeble kicks. The initial pain was fading, as was the sickening dread that had come over her, but she could still feel the _absence _inside. Her bending. What was she going to do without her bending? She had defined herself by it for so long. What else could she be, if not a waterbender?

"There," Zuko said a few minutes later, setting her down in the snow. "That's the Fire Nation fleet."

Katara looked out over the water, the sick feeling returning. "There must be a hundred ships out there."

"A hundred and twelve," Zuko corrected, not sounding particularly pleased. "Forget the moon. The city was going to fall anyway."

"No." She rose, forcing herself to look. "I won't believe that. We have Aang. We can still . . ." She trailed off, eyes widening as something swelled in the corner of her vision, vivid blue and white. "What is _that_?"

Zuko turned, looking back toward the shore. Katara blinked, struggling to comprehend what she was seeing. _Is that a giant glowing fish monster? _

"Come on." Zuko snatched her arm and started dragging her through the snow again, angling their course toward the city's outermost wall. "We have to get down there."

"What? Why?"

"That thing's heading for the fleet. I have to find my uncle."

"How is he going to help with this?"

"I don't _know_, but he's down there somewhere, and I need to make sure he gets out alive."

Katara blinked, no longer resisting as he pulled her along. It hadn't occurred to her that the Fire Prince was capable of loving his family, and after the things he'd said about his father and sister in the cave, she'd assumed Fire Nation families were just as ruthless as a unit as the country was as a whole. To find that Zuko actually had family that he cared about . . .

It humanized him, she realized. She wasn't quite sure what to think of that. _He's the enemy, _she told herself._ We're at war. You have to remember that. _

Zuko stopped suddenly, but her momentum threw her forward so she crashed into his back, sending them both tumbling into the snow. "Watch it!" he snapped as she landed on top of him. _He may love his uncle, but he's still evil, _she thought. Disgusted with herself for even entertaining the thought that he had some redeeming qualities, she rolled off of him, into the snowbank. Zuko got to his feet, face contorting into a scowl. "Stay here."

"Where are _you _going?" she demanded.

He didn't even glance back at her. "I'm going after Zhao."


	6. The Sunken Fleet

Chapter Six

Zuko left the waterbender in the snowfield, hoping that the sudden absence of the moon would keep her from escaping while she still had her wrists tied. Even if she _did _manage to get away—and by this point, he'd grown accustomed to having her and her friends escape whenever he managed to capture them—he had more important things to worry about. Things like taking down the man who had sent a gang of pirates to blow up his ship while he was still on-board.

Zhao ran across one of the still-standing ice bridges, his cloak flapping behind him. He glanced over his shoulder, as if believing someone was about to ambush him from behind. Well, Zuko thought, standing at the edge of the ice shelf, someone _was _going to ambush him. Just not the person he was expecting.

He leapt off down onto the bridge, letting his legs absorb the impact. Alerted by the sound of his landing, Zhao spun toward him, eyes wide. "You're alive."

"You tried to have me _killed_!" His body snapped into a cinder-stance, fist shooting forward. A plume of fire shot down the length of the bridge, straight toward Zhao. The admiral countered with a thin stream of fire, disrupting the shape of the fireball so it separated, flying to either side of him.

"Yes, I did," Zhao said, eyes narrowing. "You're the Blue Spirit, an enemy of the Fire Nation. You freed the Avatar."

_Only to keep him from you, _Zuko thought, sneering as he sent six rapid-fire blasts in Zhao's direction. "I had no choice." _I never seem to have a choice._

"You could have chosen to accept your failure. You're a disgrace."

Heat flared along his knuckles as his temper threatened to erupt. Growling, he kicked, and a wide arc of flame swept across the bridge. He'd beaten Zhao before. He could do it again.

* * *

Alone, Katara struggled to free her wrists from the ropes.

If she'd been able to bend, she could have shaped the snow at her feet into a dagger, then used that to cut her restraints. If she'd been able to bend, she could have used her feet to direct a razor-thin stream of water between her hands and the ropes and sever them that way. If she'd been able to bend . . .

But she couldn't. She kicked the pile of snow next to her, sending up a spray of white which the wind blew back in her face. _I wonder if this is how Sokka feels when his ideas backfire. _She shook her head, making the snow fall away. Sokka. Sokka would be smart about this. He'd find a way out of this situation. He wouldn't need bending to do it. Of course, there was the little detail about Sokka carrying around an _absurd _number of sharp objects, but if he had to escape without those, he could.

_If I can find a way down to the city, I can find something sharp to cut these ropes. _She moved down the edge of the ice shelf, taking care to remain unnoticed. Below, Zuko and Zhao fought, flames bursting from fists and feet, making the bridge they stood on shimmer as the ice melted. Viciously, Katara hoped they'd destroy the bridge in their fighting and fall into the frigid water below.

The shortest drop was at least ten feet below and perilously close to the dueling firebenders. She thought she could make it, though the landing would hurt. She couldn't foresee herself landing well with her arms tied and no water to catch her. But she'd push through the pain, find something sharp, free herself. It wasn't much of a plan, but it was all she had, so she sidled up to the edge of the ice shelf.

A fireball hit the ice below her feet and sent the ground beneath her feet cascading down.

* * *

Zuko heard the ice shelf break behind him. He'd have thought it would break with a cracking noise, like a plate smashing against the floor, but it rumbled, a massive growl that resonated under his feet and made him think that it would knock out his side of the bridge when it hit. He heard the waterbender cry out and glanced back in time to see her slam into the ground and go limp.

Zhao let loose an arrow-thin stream of fire that nearly singed Zuko's good cheek. He turned his attention back to the admiral, retaliating with a kick that sent flames spilling out across the entire bridge. Zhao countered, parting the flames with his hands. A vicious glint filled his eyes. Triumph. _He already thinks he's won. _Zuko fell back into a smoke-stance, catching his breath as they faced off. Zhao had gotten better since the last time they'd fought.

Zuko inhaled, then exhaled a stream of smoke, stoking his inner fire. Zhao smirked, body rigid, ready to burst into movement. And then suddenly his arms went slack, his eyes panning up to the sky. "Impossible," he whispered. "It can't be!"

Zuko looked up and saw the moon, brilliant white after its earlier disappearance. Oddly, his first thought was of the waterbender. With the moon back, she'd be at the height of her power, as would every other waterbender in this frozen city. If he wanted to get out of here alive, he had to leave now.

He sent a final blast of fire in Zhao's direction, then started running toward the end of the bridge, to where the girl had fallen. He'd need to restrain her legs, he thought, in case it occurred to her to use them to bend now that she had the ability, now that she wasn't half-dead from a hit to the head. It had been hard enough to drag her along even without the moon making her stronger.

Water surged through the river below, rising up like a hand. Zuko spun, taking a cinder-stance again, but it was Zhao, not himself, who was the target. The liquid pulsed with a deep blue light—_like lightning, _he thought, alarm skating across the edge of his mind—and encircled the admiral. Zhao struggled, but the watery claws closed around him, pinning his arms to his side.

Zuko hesitated. Zhao knew he was the Blue Spirit. Zhao had tried to _kill _him. It would be so much easier if he drowned, so much _simpler. _But Zhao was also Fire Nation, and even if Zuko hated him, letting him die like this would be the height of dishonorable behavior. It would make Zuko—_Zuko, _not just the Blue Spirit—a traitor.

"Take my hand," he called, reaching out. Zhao's eyes flew to his face, shining with incredulity. He started to extend his hand for help. Then, very deliberately, he pulled it out of Zuko's reach. "What are you _doing_?"

"I don't need your help to die," Zhao said. The water closed over his face, dragging him over the bridge's guardrail and into the freezing water below.

Zuko stared at into the water's depths, watching the uneven light withdraw, dragging Zhao with it. "Why?" he whispered.

"Zuko!"

He spun toward the voice. "Uncle?"

His uncle appeared from the same tunnel Zhao had come from. His clothes bore several charred patches, but he looked unharmed. "Uncle, I have the waterbending peasant."

"Nephew, you should not call other people peasants. It is very rude."

"This isn't the time for courtesy!" he snapped. Honestly, his uncle had no awareness of their priorities. "I'm going to use her as bait, but first we need to get out of here."

His uncle nodded. "Where is she?"

Zuko pointed to the massive pile of ice where the girl lay, half-expecting her to have somehow escaped after her fall. But she hadn't even woken up yet. "Do you have anything I can use for rope? We need to bind her feet before she wakes up."

"Are you certain you've thought this through?" his uncle asked. "How are we going to hide her until we can escape the North Pole? Even if some of Zhao's fleet survived, we'd need to stow ourselves away with the cargo if we want to pass unnoticed. I am not certain we can do that while also taking a prisoner back with us."

"We'll make it work. Do you have rope or not?"

Iroh had no rope, but he _did _have a belt, which Zuko used to tether the girl's ankles together before slinging her over his shoulder. It was only as he started for the ocean that something his uncle had said sank in. "Wait. What do you mean 'if some of Zhao's fleet survived'? There were over a hundred ships out there."

"You mean you didn't see it?"

"See what?" he demanded, impatient.

"After Zhao killed the moon spirit, the Avatar merged with the ocean spirit and wiped out the fleet."

Zuko blinked. "Moon spirit?" _The Avatar mentioned something about a spirit when he was escaping, _Zuko thought, frustrated that such a detail had slipped by him. _But what's this about Zhao being the one to kill it?_

His uncle sighed. "I can see that we have much to talk about. I expect any surviving ships will be busy performing rescue missions, if they haven't fled already. We may be able to disguise ourselves as survivors, then hide with the cargo before anyone realizes who we are. Assuming we can find a way to make our guest cooperate." He looked doubtfully at the waterbender.

"She's not our guest, uncle. She's our prisoner." _And once we're out of danger, she'll be bait, _he thought, hurrying down a slick set of stairs molded from the icy walls on either side of the city's entrance. His uncle followed, keeping up with surprising ease.

"There," his uncle said, pointing to a wooden pallet knocking against the shore. "We can paddle that away from the city, then pose as survivors if we manage to bump into any of the rescue ships."

Zuko nodded, carrying the waterbender to the shore and dumping her onto the still-floating pallet. She groaned softly, head lolling to the side, but didn't wake. Hopefully she'd remain unconscious until they were out of the water and on a ship. Not that they'd be much safer there, given that she'd still be close to water no matter where in the ship she was, but he didn't think she'd capsize a ship just to escape. The Avatar's friends seemed to have some qualms when it came to killing people. _Not that it stopped the Avatar from sinking a hundred ships and letting everyone drown, _Zuko thought bitterly, looking out at the water. Debris floated everywhere, from buoys to driftwood to pieces of steel lodged in icebergs. When he saw the remains of a soldier's armor snared in some seaweed just below the surface, he closed his eyes.

"The invasion failed."

"Yes," his uncle said. Both of them were quiet for a time.

"This has to be one of the worst defeats in Fire Nation history," Zuko said at last.

"I believe you are right, Nephew. A grave loss, on both sides."

He grit his teeth. He didn't care about the other side, but he knew his uncle would disapprove of him saying so. Iroh never seemed to care about sides. Sometimes it was like he didn't even notice them. It was one thing to look upon the devastation and know so many of his people had perished. It was a wholly different thing when the full implications of that sunk in. "Our old crew was integrated into Zhao's fleet."

His uncle closed his eyes. "Yes."

"They might all be dead now."

"I am sure they would have been glad to know you cared," his uncle said in his infuriatingly calm voice.

Zuko shot to his feet, the pallet wobbling beneath him. "Of course I cared!" he yelled, heedless of listening ears. "They were with us for almost three years. I ate meals with them, trained with them, chased the Avatar with them. How could you ever think I didn't care?" _They were saved from the explosion only to die out here in the water, _he thought, throat tight. _They should have been sent home. They should have been safe from all this._

His uncle eyed him for a long moment, then sighed, his expression softening. "I am proud of you, Zuko. Proud that you are still capable of caring about the people around you. I know that sometimes it hurts to care, but when the grief passes, I believe you will be better off for it."

_When the grief passes. Right. _He sat, shoving the pain down. But it kept lapping up at his ankles, a persistent, nagging ache.

After a time, they came across a few stray pieces of armor caught on a quilt of floating debris. Several pieces were still attached to their owners, so Zuko left them, but when he saw a partial set of armor floating on its own, he pulled it out of the water. "The rescue crews will recognize me." _If there are even any soldiers left to do the rescuing. _"This armor could be useful as a disguise."

"You do not have to ask permission, Nephew. You may have been banished, but you are still Fire Nation. You have a right to wear the armor."

He nodded, feeling a little sick as he slid the helmet over his face. It would conceal his scar; hopefully that would be enough. Then, because his snowsuit was still damp and because the air was frigid, he donned the rest of the armor and tried to forget the horrible things he'd witnessed today.


	7. Sailing South

Chapter Seven

A massive ship weaved through the glaciers, rope ladders sprawling over its sides. Zuko watched it approach through the eye-slit of the helmet he'd found, paddling over toward the side of the ship where the ladders hung. "I'll go up first," Zuko said. "You stay with the waterbender while I have the crew retrieve something to pull her up."

"And then what?" his uncle asked. "She is wearing water tribe clothing, and her face might be known to those paying attention to the wanted posters. I do not think we will be able to convince them that she is a soldier."

"We're not." He'd thought that much through, at least. It had seemed prudent, after a lack of planning had resulted in him wandering into a blizzard, to consider his next step as he'd paddled. "They'll throw her in the prison hold, away from any water. When we get close to land, we'll break her out of there and take her with us."

His uncle nodded, his wordless acceptance stoking the embers of pride in Zuko's chest. They paddled the last few paces toward the ship, and Zuko sent up a flare, signaling his presence to the crew members on deck. "Come aboard," one of them called.

"We have an unconscious prisoner."

"This is a rescue ship, son. We don't have any room for prisoners."

"It's one of the Avatar's companions. The Fire Lord will be very displeased if we allow her to go free after our defeat today." His father wouldn't likely care, actually. He wasn't the sort of person who concerned himself with details like that. He probably hadn't even signed off on this expedition himself—one of the generals would have looked over Zhao's plan and approved or disapproved it. If his father had seen those plans at all, it had probably only been after the general in charge of the troops had pitched the idea to him.

"Very well," said one of the soldiers on deck. "We'll send a cage down for her. Is she dangerous?"

"She's a waterbender. A good one," he added, frowning. It felt strange to compliment the girl's abilities, even when she couldn't hear him. "Keep her away from any water sources, and be very careful when you give her anything to drink."

They lowered a metal cage over the side of the deck, onto the pallet they'd been floating on for the past few hours. Zuko grabbed the girl by the arms, shoving her headfirst into the cage. She groaned weakly, rolling over as he closed the bottom hatch keep her from falling out. As they raised her toward the deck, her body jerked, and she kicked at the cage door with her bound legs, punching the overlapping metal pieces in a desperate attempt to get free. "Let me out!"

Zuko watched them pull her onto the deck, then grabbed one of the ropes hanging over the side of the ship and started climbing, wishing the armor he'd put on to disguise himself wasn't so heavy. His uncle followed, wearing no disguise. Zhao had asked him to come along as a guest, and even though Zhao was dead, no one would question Iroh's right to be here.

"If you don't let me go," the waterbender shouted as Zuko swung over the guardrail, "I'm going to freeze you all to the side of the ship and watch you drown!"

"Quiet, peasant," one of the crew members said, kicking the cage.

"You should not refer to her that way," his uncle said, pulling himself over the rail. _What are you doing? _Zuko wondered, but held his tongue. "She may be our prisoner, but we should not treat her with such disrespect. You would not want to be treated like that if _you _were taken prisoner by the Northern Water Tribe, would you?"

His tone shamed the crew members as much as the words, and even Zuko felt a twinge of guilt, though the comment wasn't directed at him. His uncle had that effect on people.

The waterbender had stopped yelling, he noticed. Now, she looked at his uncle with a mix of consternation and wariness. "Why?" she asked.

His uncle crouched next to the cage, putting himself at eye-level with the girl. "I have found that a little kindness and respect can pay dividends. I am hoping that no one will come to harm unnecessarily, particularly since our primary mission on this ship is to recover as many survivors as we can."

The girl's eyes widened, as if she really hadn't considered that some of the undamaged ships would remain out here, looking for shipwrecked survivors. Four deckhands walked over, picking up her little cage by the handles and carrying the girl down below. Zuko waited with his uncle; it would look suspicious if he followed after the waterbender without explicit orders to do so, and he'd have a chance to find the prison hold later, if his uncle didn't find it first.

"Sir, we have more survivors on the port side," one deckhand said, beckoning the remaining crew members surrounding Zuko and his uncle.

"There will be food and blankets in the galley, through that door," one man told his uncle.

"Thank you. Let's go, soldier," his uncle said, giving Zuko a knowing look. "It has been a long day, and we are all tired. It is time to rest."

They headed in the indicated direction, finding themselves in a room packed with survivors in varying stages of health. Many had hypothermia, and were being warmed by firebenders who had escaped onto lifeboats before the frigid waters had capsized their ships. Zuko felt cold himself, but not cold enough to take one of the limited blankets when another survivor started offering them out.

Instead, he contented himself with moving about the cabin, looking with little hope for anyone from his old crew. There was a chance, however slight, that they'd survived and ended up here. So he searched, moving through the entire ship, though he couldn't find the cell where the waterbender was being kept. Not once did he see any familiar face, and eventually, he returned to the galley where most of the survivors awaited food or medical treatment.

Gradually, those in good enough condition were shuffled off to the crew cabins—smaller than the galley, but sufficient to temporarily hold a handful of people. Zuko got split up from his uncle, as Iroh had been recognized by this point as an important general by some of the soldiers, and had taken charge of organizing the rescue mission with some reluctance. So Zuko sat, surrounded by other survivors but utterly alone in the world as they sailed through hostile waters.

* * *

They took her to a dingy section of the ship which housed a row of prison cells the size of small bathrooms. "We're going to untie your legs and arms now," one of her guards said. "Don't try to bend."

_Like I even could, without any water. _She didn't complain. She'd wanted those ropes off for hours, and having her hands free would prove useful when she _did _get a chance to escape. The soldiers ushered her into the cell at the end of the hall, locking the heavy metal door behind her and leaving only a thin slit for light to filter in. The cell had a bed bolted to the wall, but no sink or toilet, which meant no water. Not surprising, given that putting her in a room with either fixture would have allowed her to escape in minutes. She'd have to find some other means of getting out.

_All right, Katara. You're on a ship in the middle of the ocean. There has to be some way to use that to your advantage. _She could feel the gentle lilt of the sea, could even hear, very faintly, the waves brushing against the hull of the ship. But when she reached out with her mind, she found the water too far away to bend with any precision. She'd learned to bend water she couldn't see before she'd come to the North Pole, but up here, water came in such abundance that no one had really talked about what to do if you couldn't find a water source at a glance. So while her other skills had improved dramatically, her ability to bend water she couldn't see was still somewhat underdeveloped.

The ship lurched, and she felt the faint tug of water moving through the pipes. She reached for it, trying to see if it was close enough, but although she could slow and speed its movements, the ship's hydraulic systems pumped it out of reach every time it came close enough to feel. _You could freeze the pipes, _whispered a darker part of her mind. _It might make the whole system break down. The ship might stop working altogether. _She prepared herself to do it, to reach for the next surge of water that the pipes brought near her and freeze it. The pipes would burst, and she might be able to channel the water back toward her prison cell and use it to make her escape. Except . . .

Except that the old man who'd told the deckhands to treat her with respect had said this was a rescue ship. Which meant that if it went down because of mechanical problems she'd caused, everyone on board would probably die before the Fire Nation could send a second ship up to rescue them. _They're Fire Nation, _she told herself, holding her ocean-stance as she waited for more water to move through the pipes. _I can't concern myself with their safety if I want to get out of here._

_They have families,_ whispered another part of her mind._ Children. Brothers and sisters. Loved ones. No nation could survive without that much. _Her arms sank slightly, and even though she desperately wanted to escape, she realized she wouldn't be able to, not until the ship had docked and any innocents had made it back to shore. Besides, for all she knew, there were other water tribe prisoners in the other cells. If she sank the ship, they'd perish, too.

She'd just have to wait until they reached safe harbor. Then she'd free herself and either find Aang or, barring that, return to the North Pole to finish her waterbending training. Either way, it was going to be a long trip.

* * *

They searched everywhere.

"She can't have just disappeared," Sokka said, trudging through the snow. The blizzard had covered most of the tracks, but there was the faint indentation snaking through the tundra where someone had trampled a trail in the snow, and since part of that trail came from the cave Aang had pointed out, Sokka had been following it all night, hoping it would lead him to his sister.

Instead, it ended at the edge of an icy cliff that had partially crumbled, collapsing onto the bridge below. _She might have done that, _he thought, carefully jumping down onto the pile of ice. _If she destroyed the ledge to escape Zuko, then she probably got away. _

Still, he looked for signs that things had gone differently. He didn't like what he found. Or, rather, what he didn't find. Despite poking through the pile of ice for almost a quarter of an hour, he found no signs of crushed firebenders, no signs of his sister. What he _did _find were tracks—lots of them, many slightly pointed, indicating the wedge-shaped shoes of the Fire Nation soldiers. The other footprints were shallow and almost soft-looking, which indicated the animal hide boots of the Northern Water Tribe. Which, unfortunately, were indistinguishable from those of the Southern Water Tribe, which meant that if Katara had walked any distance from here, he wouldn't be able to identify which set of footprints belonged to her.

Above, he heard a muted rumble, like thunder, but closer and not quite so loud. Moments later, Appa swooped down, landing on the bridge. "Have you found anything?" Aang asked, jumping off Appa's head and floating down to the ground.

"Tracks. I can't be sure if any of them are hers."

"Maybe she used her bending to cover her tracks," Aang suggested, but he couldn't quite manage to maintain his usual optimistic tone. "She's learned so much from Master Pakku. Maybe she had to sneak away, so she moved the snow to hide her footprints."

Sokka looked down at the tracks in the snow. "I don't think so, Aang. If she'd done that, she'd have disturbed at least some of the other footprints. If she walked away, then she'd be in the city." _And if she were in the city, someone would have found her by now. _"I want you to take Appa and do another fly-over of those paths leading to and from the cave Zuko dragged you to. She might have decided to follow one of those back to the city." The fallen ice shelf could have been the result of some other waterbender using their surroundings to fight. There had been a lot of people moving through this area. It was possible.

Aang leapt back onto Appa's back and guided him up to the sky. Sokka continued to study the footprints, checking each set for odd features. When he came across a set of pointed footprints that sank more deeply into the snow than the others, he paused. _A person with feet this size wouldn't be heavy enough to make tracks this deep unless they were carrying something big. As big as another person. _Lips pressed into a thin line, he followed the tracks.

They led to the shore, away from the docks where several water tribe ships were tethered, but near a curve in the ice, where debris pushed to shore by the current would congregate. Bits and pieces of armor, driftwood, and other material had already started circling slowly in the water. Sokka looked out to sea, then up to the moon, feeling a pang of loss so powerful it brought him to his knees. "All right, Universe," he said, addressing anything that might be out there. "If this is your way of getting back at me for all the times I've made light of what you can do, I got it when I lost Yue. You didn't have to make me lose my sister, too."

The waves lapped up at the beach, and if they gave any reply, it was in a language he couldn't even begin to understand.

* * *

_Author's Notes:_

_So this will be the last scene with Aang or Sokka for a while. By which I mean I've already drafted the next dozen or so chapters and haven't yet gotten back to this particular plot line. I_ do_ plan to return to it later and write it as a bigger chunk, with several chapters devoted to what happens between this moment and their eventual reunion with Katara, but I want to get to some Zutara goodness first, since that's what most of you came here for. So, in short, we will eventually see what happens with Aang and Sokka, but I won't be going into much depth with them for a while. _

_More importantly, I'd like to take this moment to thank all of my wonderful readers and reviewers. Your continued support of this story makes it easier to keep pushing forward (so that I can stay ahead and maintain a steady update schedule). I hope you continue reading as this story strays from the season two narrative because I've got a lot of (hopefully great) surprises in store for everyone._


	8. Conversations with Iroh

Chapter Eight

They sailed south for six days before the ship angled eastward. When Zuko asked why they were sailing _away _from the Fire Nation, his uncle told him they were headed to one of the colonies near the northern edge of the Earth Kingdom. "Have you thought about what we are going to do once we make landfall?"

Zuko hesitated, considering this new information. "We'll need be off the ship before that. We could take one of the lifeboats." That was what he'd done to get from Zhao's ship into the North Pole, though he'd had to abandon that one at the shore.

"We could. What about the waterbender? If we bring her onto a lifeboat, she will almost certainly be able to escape with her bending."

"I'm still working that one out." He looked down. The truth was, he hadn't given that particular problem more than passing consideration. He'd intended to tie her hands and feet again, maybe even blindfold her until they could find a place to land somewhere in the Earth Kingdom. And after that . . . He'd think of something. Some way to use her as bait without attracting unwanted attention from either the Earth Kingdom or the Fire Nation.

"I think, perhaps, I should go visit her cell," his uncle said.

Zuko's head snapped up. "Why?"

"As I said when we boarded, a little kindness can go a long way."

Beneath his scavenged helmet, Zuko's lips twisted into a sneer. "This is no time for kindness. We need to get her out of her cell, get her to the Earth Kingdom, and use her to lure the Avatar into a trap."

His uncle only looked at him soberly.

"What do we have to gain by you going to visit her?" Zuko asked at last.

"I believe I can convince her to let us take her off the ship without her drowning us. At least until we get to shore, at which point I don't think anything can keep her from trying to escape."

Zuko heard faint footfalls approaching from the end of the hallway. He straightened, trying to look like he was simply taking his turn patrolling the ship. "Are you sure about this?" he asked as he passed his uncle.

"I am."

"Then we'll do it your way."

There was no more time to talk. The soldier he'd heard rounded the corner up ahead. Zuko marched through the hallway, movements stiff. The other man nodded as he passed, and Zuko nodded back, keeping with the charade. He'd be glad when they were off this ship.

* * *

A knock on her cell door startled Katara out of a light doze. She jumped to her feet, looking through the slit in the door, but instead of soldiers, she saw the regal old man who had told the crew to treat her with respect her first day on this ship. The same old man who she'd seen traveling with Zuko as he'd chased them all over the world. _What is he doing here? _

The door opened, revealing the two soldiers who monitored the prison hold standing in the hallway, already in their fighting stances. Katara looked between each of them, then turned her attention back to the old man. "Why are you here?"

"I was hoping we could talk. I brought tea."

_Tea? _"I'm not interested in talking. Let me out of here and I'll consider not sinking the ship on my way back to the North Pole."

The guards tensed, but the old man waved them away. "You two have been keeping watch all day," the old man told them. "You should take a break."

"But sir—"

"Do not worry about me. I simply have some matters I wish to discuss with our guest before we make landfall."

The guards exchanged glances, then retreated to the end of the hall, far enough that they wouldn't easily overhear any conversation. Katara kept her gaze steady on the old man, arms half-raised in a fighting stance, though after six days, she still had no water to bend, not even the poorly-made tea she'd received twice each day under threat of being burned to death if she tried to bend it instead of drinking it.

"Who are you? Why are you here?"

"My name is Iroh. I have come to make sure you are being treated well."

She hesitated, expecting him to say more, but Iroh merely bent down to pick up a tray of tea and bring it into the cell, leaving the door wide open. "_Have _you been treated well?" he asked, pouring a cup of tea for her. She eyed it warily, puzzled by his apparent confidence that she wouldn't turn it to ice and spear him through the throat.

"Well enough," she answered carefully. "They bring meals twice a day." Meager meals, even compared to some of the leaner nights she'd spent traveling with her brother and Aang, but she thought that might be a result of the sheer number of people on board rather than callousness. "No one's tried to kill me yet."

"That is good. I will admit I was worried you might be treated poorly, considering who you are. I am glad you are unharmed."

She said nothing, refusing to give away any information he could use against her. Iroh poured a cup of tea for himself, sipping at it before making a face. "I'm afraid this is the best tea I could find on board," he said. "I will have to talk to the captain about purchasing better tea after he makes port."

_"After he makes port," _Katara thought, frowning. _"He," not "we."_ "You don't plan to be on this ship when it gets to port, do you?"

"No, I do not. You have not tried your tea."

"You just said it was awful."

"True, but I am accustomed to superb tea." The corners of his eyes crinkled as he grinned. "It is one of the luxuries I'd rather not live without."

She glanced down at her teacup. She really _was _thirsty, but she also suspected he'd slipped something into it. Poison, maybe, or a sedative, if he intended to keep her alive. He'd traveled with _Zuko_, after all, which almost certainly meant he intended to use her as bait for Aang. No matter how bizarrely kind he seemed, she wouldn't be sampling any of his tea. "Why are you really here?" she asked, leaning forward. "There's no way you came here just to have tea with me."

The easy smile slid off Iroh's face. "I am afraid you are right. The real matter I wish to discuss is how my nephew and I intend to get you off this ship."

"To use me as _bait_," she spat.

Iroh nodded. "There are several ways we could do this. We could bind you by the wrists and ankles, perhaps even blindfold you, then carry you to one of the lifeboats and leave the ship that way. We could also have one of the guards slip a sedative into your evening tea, knowing that you will drink it because you know you cannot afford to become any more dehydrated than you already are. We could, perhaps, knock you unconscious. But I think you see the problem with these solutions."

She waited. The problem, from Iroh's perspective, would be that no matter how they restrained her, they would still be going out to sea with a trained waterbender.

"Or," Iroh said softly, "with your cooperation, all three of us could safely make it to shore."

Her eyes narrowed. "I have nothing to gain by cooperating."

"It is unavoidable, I think, that we will have to bind your arms. Even for a skilled waterbender, it would be difficult for you to swim with only your legs to aid you. If you destroy the lifeboat, you may succeed in drowning myself and my nephew, but you would very likely drown yourself as well."

"And I suppose you're going to ask me to 'cooperate' after we reach the shore."

"No," Iroh said, taking another sip of tea. "I fully expect you to try to escape at that point. We will try to stop you, of course, but you may get away. I do not think even my nephew would hold that against you."

She paused, thinking. This wasn't at all how she'd have imagined this conversation going, if she'd known she'd be having it. "So you're asking me to cooperate with you long enough for all of us to get to shore, at which point I can try to escape at no risk to myself."

"That is right." He met her eyes. "If we cannot have your cooperation, we will find another way to get you off this boat. And if we can't do that, you will be trapped in this cell, a prisoner of war, until you eventually end up in a prison camp somewhere in the Fire Nation. Your odds of escaping from such a place would be minimal compared to your odds of escaping from us. I would argue that cooperation is your best option at this point."

She studied him, looking for any sign of deceit, any twitch of remorse or uncertainty in his eyes. But as far as she could tell, he meant every word. _He could be withholding some vital piece of information, _she told herself. _He might have troops waiting when we get to shore. He might just be telling me all this so I'll let my guard down, then he'll have the guards put sedatives in my tea tonight. _

_But if he's not lying, then this really_ is_ my best chance of escape. Even with everything I've learned, I won't be able to escape a ship full of Fire Nation soldiers, not without help. _"When?" she finally asked.

"Tomorrow."

"What time?"

"Sunrise."

She pressed her lips into a thin line, then nodded. "All right. I'll cooperate. Until we get to shore."

Iroh smiled. "I am pleased to hear that. Would you like to finish your tea?" he asked, nodding toward the cup she hadn't even touched.

"No." And then, because Gran Gran had taught her to respect her elders, she added, "Thank you."

Iroh picked up the tea set, bowed as he stepped out of the cell, and gently closed the door, locking her in.

* * *

The next morning, Iroh freed her from her cell and escorted her up to the deck. Katara shied away from the rising sun, feeling a flicker of frustration knowing Zuko and his uncle would be at full power for almost twelve hours before the moon rose. Iroh bound her wrists anyway, apologizing for the necessity of it. He was right to be cautious.

A soldier stood at the edge of the deck, next to one of the lifeboats. It wasn't until he spoke that Katara realized it was Zuko, wearing Fire Nation armor. "I thought we were going to tie her feet and blindfold her."

"I do not think that will be necessary. She and I discussed this plan at length when I went to speak with her last night."

Anger made Zuko's voice rise in pitch. "You told her our plan?"

Katara glanced between them, confused. She'd assumed Iroh had relayed his intentions to speak with her to Zuko, or that he'd at least told him afterward. But although the prince seemed unsurprised that they'd spoken, he apparently hadn't thought to ask what they'd talked about.

"I convinced her to cooperate until we reach the shore," Iroh said. "We can talk once we are off this ship. It would be . . . imprudent to linger on deck, now that we've put our plan into motion."

_More like now that they have a prisoner of war on deck with them, _she thought, though his comment did make her wonder why they both seemed so intent on getting off this ship before it landed. She'd have to ask Iroh, see if he'd give her any sort of answer.

"Fine," Zuko said at last, glaring at her as he boarded the lifeboat. "Get on."

Arms tied behind her back—again—it took a bit of effort to haul herself over the ship's guardrail and into the lifeboat, but she managed it, and she did it without help. Iroh followed a moment later, the boat swaying under his weight, and Zuko used the pulleys to lower the small boat into the water. "I'm not rescuing you if you try to swim away," he told her as the bottom of the boat hit the water.

She scowled. "Believe me when I say I'd rather drown than be rescued by you."

At the back of the boat, Iroh sighed. "It would seem we are in for a long voyage."


	9. Dignity and Discovery

Chapter Nine

They paddled all day, the sun glaring down on them like a bright, burning eye. Or, Katara supposed, _Zuko _paddled all day, since her hands were tied and Iroh seemed content to let the current carry them to their destination. The prince complained often about being the only one paddling, but he didn't stop even when Iroh suggested they have lunch.

"Lunch?" Katara repeated, ravenous but skeptical.

Iroh pulled a square box from underneath the bench. "Each lifeboat is packed with enough travel rations to last until its occupants can find safe harbor. It is not the highest quality food, but it is better than going hungry." He unwrapped one of the paper-sheathed packages and started to hand it to her, only to glance at her bound wrists with a speculative expression. "Nephew, I'm going to untie our guest for a few minutes."

"_What_?" Zuko demanded, his paddle hitting the side of the boat as he turned.

"I need my hands to eat, genius," Katara said, though she'd also been surprised by Iroh's statement.

Zuko glanced between her and his uncle, looking at the latter as if he'd just suggested they swim the rest of the way to the Earth Kingdom. Finally, he left his paddle on the floor of the canoe and snatched the traveling cake from his uncle. "_I'll _feed her."

"You are _not _feeding me," she said.

"I can feed you or you can go hungry," Zuko said, narrowing his eyes. "We're not untying you, so you'd better think hard about what you really want here."

She scowled petulantly, certain he meant it, then leaned against the edge of the canoe. "How long until we reach the Earth Kingdom?" she asked, looking at Iroh.

"Another full day, at least. Perhaps longer."

_I'll need to keep my strength up if I want to escape when we reach the shore._ "I'll eat," she decided, tilting her chin up. To her surprise, Zuko didn't offer any commentary, only finished unwrapping the dense brown cake and started breaking off bite-sized pieces for her. It had bits of dried fruit and nuts in it, but when she bit into it, it tasted spicy. _Who makes _spicy _traveling cakes? _she wondered, struggling to get the first bite down without gagging. Despite her disgust, she ate with as much dignity as she could, then licked the crumbs from her lips when she was done.

"You need to eat, too, Nephew," Iroh said, grabbing another traveling cake.

"I'm not hungry."

"Zuko . . ."

"I'll eat later." He grabbed the oar off the floor and started paddling again.

The next few hours passed in silence, giving Katara time to think. She doubted they'd untie her hands once they made it to shore, but the nose of the boat looked sharp enough to serve as a saw. She'd never thought she'd be grateful for Fire Nation design sensibilities, but their tendency to put sharp points on everything could prove useful. Of course, that was assuming her captors would leave her unattended long enough for her to saw away at her bindings.

Perhaps if she could pull some water from the ocean and freeze them in blocks of ice, she'd have the time to cut herself loose. But then again, Zuko had used his firebending to escape the ice prison she'd created at the Spirit Oasis, and it had only taken him a few seconds, so freezing him might not be a viable option.

_Think. Sokka would find a way out of this, with or without bending. _She felt a pang of longing. It was the first time she'd thought about her brother since getting on the lifeboat, and the knowledge that he was likely combing the entire North Pole with Aang right now made her stomach clench up. Ever since she'd left the South Pole, Sokka had been one of the only pieces of home she'd had left, aside from her clothes and her mother's necklace. Without him, she was adrift, lost in the world. Both literally and figuratively lost, since Sokka had done most of the navigating since they'd started traveling. And Aang . . . _I need to be there to help him, _she thought, closing her eyes. She'd been the one to pull Aang out of the iceberg. Hers had been the first face he'd seen in a hundred years. She couldn't even _imagine _what he was going through with her gone. _Will he even stay in the North Pole long enough to finish his training? _

She doubted it. _She _wouldn't have stayed, in his position. Of course, she didn't have to master all four elements before the end of summer, but Aang had trouble with responsibility and—

"Are you all right?" Iroh asked, pulling her from her reverie. Her head jerked up, and she realized her eyes had started to water. Unable to wipe them, she just held them open wide, hoping they would dry before any tears escaped.

"I'm fine. Just thinking."

"Thinking about escaping," Zuko muttered.

Anger flashed through her veins. "I was thinking about my _friends_," she snapped. "But you wouldn't understand that, since you've obviously never had any."

Zuko didn't yell back like she'd expected him to. Instead, he exhaled slowly, not even looking at her. "I had friends once. Mai and Ty Lee. Then I was banished. I haven't seen either of them in three years." Finally, he turned his head, amber eyes catching the light. "Ty Lee still sends me a birthday card every year. I used to keep them in my cabin on my ship. And then a bunch of pirates blew up that ship, and now I don't even have that. So don't talk to me about missing your friends."

She stared at him, dumbfounded. Birthday cards? Banishment? "You were banished?" She looked to Iroh, but he looked just as startled by Zuko's little speech as she was.

Zuko stiffened, the steady beat of the oar faltering. A second later, he continued paddling with renewed vigor, not saying a word. Iroh laid a hand on her shoulder, shaking his head. _It's obviously a sensitive subject,_ she thought. _Maybe I could use that somehow. _

Her own thoughts unnerved her. She'd never considered herself a manipulative person, and although she really couldn't think of anyone more deserving of manipulation than the prince, it still bothered her that her first response to realizing he felt insecure about his banishment was to try to figure out how to leverage it against him. _That's not the kind of person I am. Is it? _

That uncertainty plagued her for several hours, until the sun sank beneath the horizon and Iroh told Zuko to take a break from paddling so they could eat. Once again, Katara sat through the indignity of being fed, telling herself over and over again that she needed to keep her strength up, especially now, surrounded by enemies.

Zuko also ate, after a bit of prodding from his uncle. Lacking much else to occupy her mind, she watched him. He ate quickly, lacking the poise and grace she'd have expected from someone of his station. He didn't talk, but he rarely did unless he was angry, as far as she could tell. Iroh passed him two canteens—both bearing the Fire Nation insignia, as if the manufacturers had felt that was an important addition even on something so minor that it didn't need any ornamentation. Zuko gulped down the entirety of his canteen, then held the second one up to Katara's lips, letting her drink. _He didn't even need his uncle to order him to give me water, _she noted, puzzled. Sure, that much had been implied by the fact that Iroh had given his nephew _two _canteens, but the prince could easily have ignored the obvious message until Iroh made it explicit. Which either meant that Zuko respected his uncle enough to follow implied commands, or—less likely but still possible—he wasn't cruel enough to withhold food and water from a prisoner.

"It is getting late," Iroh said as Katara drained the last of the canteen's contents. "Nephew, why don't you rest? I will take first watch."

"I'm not tired."

"Zuko . . ."

The firebender tensed, then exhaled sharply, handing the oar to his uncle. "Wake me up in two hours. And _don't _untie the girl."

"I have a name, you know," Katara said. Zuko looked at her, irritation plain on his face, but made no attempt to correct himself.

"Two hours, Uncle. I want to be back on dry land as soon as possible." He stepped over the rows of benches and laid down at the back of the boat, using the tarp as a blanket.

Katara stayed awake, letting the peaceful night calm her mind. When they made landfall, she would use her feet to bend a wave of water toward Zuko and his uncle, immobilizing them while she cut herself free using the sharpest thing she could find—currently the tip of the boat, but if she saw something more suited to her needs once she got to shore, she could use that instead. Then she'd run. _And go where? _

Obviously, she needed to find Aang and Sokka. But they'd be searching for her at the same time, and Appa flew faster than any Fire Nation ship. For all she knew, they'd already left the North Pole and were cruising somewhere over the Earth Kingdom, or maybe even the Fire Nation, looking for her. Despite being the last waterbender from the Southern Water Tribe, Katara wasn't conspicuous enough to draw widespread attention. Not like Appa or Aang. So she'd have to go out and find them. Which posed a problem, since even with Aang and Sokka at her side, she'd run into enough trouble in the Earth Kingdom to know that it was no place for a lone traveler. Worse, without faster transport, she'd be unable to catch up with Appa unless by some miracle the others landed within a few miles of her location and decided to rest for a night.

There was just so much ground to cover, with no guarantee that she'd be able to find them on her own. She had a better chance of finding them if . . .

If she allowed Zuko to use her as bait.

She shook her head, as if she could physically shake off the thought. That wasn't an option. Even if it were, it was the last option she'd ever choose, not only because she found to prince abhorrent but also because by allowing herself to be bait, she'd draw Aang straight into danger. They'd managed to avoid becoming prisoners of war so far, though they'd been captured at least half a dozen times. Her six days on that Fire Nation ship had been the longest stretch of captivity she'd had to endure, and already she'd gotten into a better position to escape. But how long would their luck hold? What if Zuko really _did _capture Aang this time? She couldn't be responsible for drawing him into a trap.

"I am sorry about my nephew," Iroh said. Startled, she jumped. "He is unaccustomed to being courteous. Truly, he is a better man than he seems."

_Well, I should hope so, since he _seems _like a monster. _She didn't say the words; Iroh seemed much more reasonable than his hotheaded nephew, and he'd made a point of treating her like a guest whenever possible. She couldn't let his likability make her forget he was an enemy, but she could appreciate it, especially considering how limited her options were when it came to other company.

"I do not mean to make light of the situation," Iroh went on, "but you should know that things would almost certainly be worse if someone else had taken you as their prisoner. My nephew may be . . . difficult at times, but he will not harm you unless he feels he has no choice. I cannot say the same of everyone in the Fire Nation."

She said nothing. She wasn't sure how to respond to that. What, was she supposed to give Zuko the Not as Awful as He Could Have Been award? He was still a terrible person.

"My nephew has a complicated past. You heard a bit of it today. You should know that it is not something he talks about lightly, even in passing. Even his happy memories are tinged with grief."

She thought about what he'd said about the birthday cards, about having friends, and kept her mouth shut. She couldn't allow herself to feel even an ounce of sympathy for him. Couldn't admit that, for a brief moment, she'd felt a _connection _with him. Connections were not conducive to remembering which side she was on.

_Just keep planning your escape, _she told herself, closing her eyes. She wouldn't let Zuko or his affable uncle lead her astray. Not when she had to find her brother and Aang.


	10. Cooperation

Chapter Ten

Katara had fallen asleep at some point during the night. A restless sleep, since her hands remained tied and she had nothing but a thick tarp for comfort, but after a few hours of tossing and turning, she woke at sunrise to find Zuko paddling the lifeboat while his uncle snored near the back of the boat.

Neither of them spoke the entire morning, which was fine by her, since it gave her more time to think about potential ways to escape. She had to admit that without more knowledge of the terrain they'd be landing on, she hadn't come up with much beyond her plan to freeze Zuko and his uncle in a block of ice and cut her ropes. Sokka would be disappointed in her planning—_he'd _have thought of something clever by now, something with the tides, maybe, or something with the various survival gear stowed at the back of the lifeboat, which Katara had looked over only to find that none of the objects looked sharp enough to function as a knife.

Just as she knew Sokka would have already constructed a better plan, she knew Zuko and his uncle had been thinking of ways to counter any escape attempts once they got to shore. At least Iroh would have. Katara was unconvinced that Zuko was smart enough to plan that far ahead, seeing as he'd _walked into a blizzard _in the middle of the North Pole.

As the day progressed, her ridiculous idea of allowing Zuko to use her as bait started to seem less and less absurd. Aang _would _find her if she remained a captive—that was the point of bait, after all—and it would be much easier for her brother and Aang to track her than for her to track them. _We definitely need to__ set up some rendezvous points after this, _she thought, annoyed.

"Uncle," Zuko said, loud enough to rouse the sleeping old man. Iroh snorted, head jerking as he opened his bleary eyes to the sky.

"What is is, Zuko?"

"I can see land."

_Land? _Katara twisted around, gasping as she saw a hazy green line in the distance. In her concentration, she'd ignored her surroundings, but the sight of land—however distant—made her chest swell with hope. And with anxiety. She hadn't decided what she should do. Escape the moment they reached shore, or play along with being bait until Aang found her? If she chose the latter, could she promise to cooperate and use that as a bargaining tool? She had nothing of worth on her except her mother's necklace, which had sentimental value but probably wasn't worth much to anyone except her family and Pakku. Besides, she didn't think either firebender would care much for jewelry, even if it _was _worth something. Her cooperation—even help—was her greatest bargaining chip, so if she chose to stay and act as bait, maybe she could convince them to untie her arms. After that, it would be a simple matter of disappearing in the night once it looked like they were close to intercepting Aang.

Looking out at the strip of land, she realized that no matter which way she went, she had to make her choice now. "Let's make a deal," she said after a long moment.

"You're in no position to bargain, waterbender."

_I'm in a better position than you think. _"It occurred to me that my best option might be to let you use me as bait."

Zuko jerked, striking the side of the boat with the oar. "_What?_"

"Well," she began, keeping her tone light, reasonable, "alone, I'd have no way of tracking Aang, much less crossing the Earth Kingdom fast enough to intercept him while he searches for me. I'm conspicuous, but not conspicuous enough to draw the attention I'd need to make Aang or my brother realize where I am. Even if I was, the chances of them overhearing a rumor about the lone waterbender traveling the world looking for the Avatar are . . . not good. So." She straightened her shoulders, staring at Zuko's face as he scowled at her. "Since you seem to be the world's foremost expert on tracking Aang, it makes more sense for me to stay with you until you find him, and then Aang and I can escape together."

Zuko's good eye had gone as narrow as the permanently slitted eye on the left side of his face. "You're offering to _cooperate_?"

"I have conditions," she said, tilting her chin back. "First, I want my hands untied."

"How stupid do you think I am?"

She ignored him. "Second, I want fresh clothes and a proper bath at the next village we stop at." She paused, waiting for his objection, but he'd gone silent in favor of glowering at her. "Third, I want you to stop calling me _girl, _or _waterbender_, or _peasant_, or any other derisive nicknames you might have for me. My _name _is Katara."

"It is not a bad deal, Nephew," Iroh said. "Her cooperation would make our mission much easier."

"Don't tell me you actually _believe _her." Zuko got to his feet, the movement making the boat rock. He looked back to her. "Why don't you say what you really want? You want us to untie your hands and bring you to the nearest river so you can freeze us to a tree and make your escape."

"Of course that's what I _want_," she snapped, rising to her feet. She moved with the sway of the boat, as comfortable at sea as she'd ever been on land. "But I'm not going to be able to track Aang on my own, and you're not going to be able to use me as bait if I run away when we get to shore. We each have something the other needs, and if you're too blind to see that, you're even stupider than I thought."

A pause.

"She has a good point, Nephew," Iroh said at last. "The Earth Kingdom is no place for a lone traveler, particularly not with the number of Fire Nation colonies in the area. Alone, she would likely be caught and arrested, and if she is lucky, that is the worst that would happen to her. If the three of us travel as a group, we can put ourselves in a good position to capture the Avatar _without _having to jeopardize our lives or hers in the process."

"Why are you taking her side?" Zuko demanded, hurt flashing across his face.

"Sometimes there are no sides," Iroh said. "Sometimes even the most dire of enemies will choose the same route to overcome a greater obstacle. That is something you must learn, if you wish to become a good leader someday."

Katara doubted Zuko would ever be a good enough leader to attract a row of baby turtleducks, much less run a country, but she thought it was imprudent to say so.

"We'll cut the ropes _after _we're away from the shore," Zuko said at last, sinking sullenly onto his seat and picking up the paddle again. _I actually convinced them, _Katara realized, heart racing. _They're going to untie me. _

Zuko kept paddling, his pace faster now that land was in sight. She figured his arms must have been aching after paddling all day yesterday, plus this morning and part of the afternoon, but he gave no sign that he was in pain, and his toned arms suggested that this wasn't the first time he'd been forced into manual labor. Then again, maybe he'd grown strong from practicing his bending—she'd noticed that she'd gained a lot of muscle mass after her own training with Pakku, and firebending seemed like a much more aggressive style than waterbending. It made sense for him to be toned.

Gradually, they drew closer to the strip of land. Katara grew antsy as she began to see individual trees and bits of driftwood near the shore. "It looks deserted," Zuko said. "It should be a good enough place to land."

"Agreed," Iroh said, clasping his hands together inside his billowing sleeves. "I recommend that shallow curve over by that pine tree."

Zuko nodded, altering their course slightly. Katara fidgeted, fingers coiling and uncoiling, wrists flexing against the ropes. A part of her wanted to run the moment her hands were free, but she knew she couldn't, not if she wanted to find Aang before next summer. Still, by the time the boat touched the shore—hitting it rather hard, which made her think that Zuko had little experience with small watercraft—she was jittery with anticipation.

"We'll take the food and water left on the lifeboat," Zuko said. "The tarp, too. We can find other supplies in the next town, assuming no one recognizes us." He paused, frowning. "We'll need new clothes. Something that will help us fit in until . . ."

_Until what? _Katara wondered.

"Until we can find a new ship," Zuko said after a moment. "Uncle, how much money do we have for supplies?"

"Two silver pieces and six copper pieces."

The prince whirled around. "That's _it_?"

"I am afraid I left most of our money on our ship. I did not expect it to explode."

Zuko sucked in a sharp breath, then exhaled fire, kicking a rock. "How are we supposed to get supplies?"

Katara huffed. She, Sokka, and Aang had often managed to restock everything they needed for one or two copper pieces or some fish that she'd caught using her bending. She didn't think any of them had ever had as much in their pockets as the apparently minuscule amount Zuko was complaining about. "Are we almost done here?" she asked. "I'd like to get going."

Zuko snatched the remaining traveling cakes from the lifeboat, wrapped the tarp around them, and quickly fastened a length of rope through the holes in the tarp, turning it into a bulky traveling pack. "Uncle, grab the canteens. We need to get out of the open before someone spots us."

They hurried away from the shore, Katara a bit more reluctantly than her captors. _All that water and no way to bend it. _

As they hit the tree-line, she spoke. "You said you were going to untie me once we were away from the shore."

"In a minute," Zuko said.

"No, _now_."

His shoulders stiffened, but he stopped to wait for her. "Fine. But don't try to use your bending. I won't show any mercy if you try to escape."

She tilted her chin up, rising to her tiptoes so they were at eye-level. "Good," she said quietly. "Because I won't show any mercy if you decide not to hold up your end of the bargain."

His eyes narrowed. He circled around her, grabbing one of her forearms. A moment later, she felt heat prickling against her inner wrist. "What are you doing?" she asked, unable to completely hide the panic in her voice.

"Burning the ropes."

"Don't you have a knife? Or something that won't make my hands blister?"

Zuko sighed, but the heat went away, and a moment later, a thin blade slid between her wrists and started sawing at her bindings. It took nearly a minute, but eventually, they fell away, landing in a pile at her feet. Relieved, Katara stretched her arms, gasping when pain shot through her shoulders. _Spirits, that hurts! _She massaged her shoulder with her fingertips, but the muscles were so tight from remaining in one position for so long that it did little good.

"We'll walk another hour, then set up camp and try to figure out where the nearest village is," Zuko decided, glancing up through the trees. The sun was still high in the sky.

"Why so early?" she asked, puzzled.

"Firebenders rise with the sun and fade with the sunset. We'll be starting out early tomorrow morning, so we'll need to go to bed early."

"Also," Iroh said, "we have all had a long week, and it will be nice to relax for a night."

"No relaxing," Zuko said. "We're going to set up camp, find a good vantage point so we can look for the next village, then go to sleep. That's all."

"And bathe," Katara added, holding her ground when Zuko sneered at her. "It was one of my conditions for cooperating," she reminded him. "I'm not going seven days in a row without a bath. I'm filthy enough as it is."

"I'd have thought a water tribe peasant would be used to being filthy."

Fury surged through her veins. "And _I _thought that my final condition was that you'd stop calling me _peasant_."

"Zuko, behave," Iroh said, sharply enough that the prince reconsidered whatever he'd been about to say and closed his mouth.

"Let's just keep going," Zuko said at last. Neither of them spoke to each other until it came time to set up camp.


	11. A Bath in the River

Chapter Eleven

"This is a good place to rest for the night," Zuko said, setting down the rucksack he'd made using the tarp.

Katara looked around, skeptical. Their "camp" rested on a slight incline, and the trees were too tightly packed, meaning that if any of them wandered too far, they'd have a hard time finding their way back. There was also no river or pond that could serve as a water source, though she suspected that was more because they didn't want her to have access to an entire river at night, when she'd be more powerful. Whether or not they believed she intended to stay until Aang came to find her, it made sense for them to keep her away from large bodies of water.

She didn't plan to escape, but if things got bad, she could. She didn't need an entire river to fight them. The water in the canteens would be enough.

"I'm going to climb this tree and look for signs of nearby villages," Zuko said, quickly scaling one of the budding deciduous trees.

"And _I _am going to start making dinner," Iroh said, giving her a genial smile. "I think a little pine-needle tea might be just the thing for tonight."

"Pine-needle tea?"

Iroh nodded. "Normally, I only use pine needles as a last resort, but I have found that the pine trees I find in the northern part of the Earth Kingdom make fine tea. If you don't have anything better, that is." Seeming unconcerned, he turned his back and wandered over to a towering pine tree a dozen paces from where Zuko had tossed down the tarp.

Feeling odd just standing there, Katara unfolded the tarp and laid it flat on the ground, where it could be used as a mattress, albeit a poor one. Hopefully there was enough in Zuko's budget to buy sleeping gear at the next village. Finished with that, she started gathering up firewood, wondering if she even needed to bother, considering that she was traveling with a pair of firebenders. Thirty paces away, Iroh sang a tune about the four seasons, his voice rumbling pleasantly through the woods.

It was all so . . . normal.

Zuko descended the tree, glancing at his uncle, then at her. His expression indicated that he was displeased that she'd been left mostly unattended, but he didn't say anything. "There's a river about a quarter mile north of here," he said, studying her. She kept her expression smooth. "Your second condition was that you wanted to bathe."

"That's right."

"We'll finish setting up camp and go to the river as a group."

She snorted. "Afraid I'll run away?"

"I know you plan to escape at your first reasonable opportunity. I'm not stupid."

"Zuko, my 'first reasonable opportunity' to escape was when we reached the shore. I could have used my waterbending to freeze you in a block of ice and cut the ropes using the first sharp thing I found." She looked at him evenly. "I'm not going to try to escape. And I'd _really _prefer you don't watch me while I bathe."

"You're still our prisoner," he said softly, eyes narrowed to slits. "Don't forget that."

_I don't intend to. _"Fine," she snapped. "Follow me if you have to. Enjoy the show." She stalked off toward the river, seething. It wasn't like she hadn't _expected _this, but it still embarrassed her to even think about the fact that he'd be seeing her mostly naked. She also desperately had to go to the bathroom, which would be equally uncomfortable. Maybe more so.

They reached the river a few minutes later, which made her think that Zuko's estimate that it had been a quarter mile away was inaccurate—it would be closer to an eighth of a mile, given the time it had taken to reach it. As she reached the water's edge, she wordlessly slid out of her coat and hung it on one of the nearby branches. When Zuko started removing the under-armor he'd been wearing, she froze. "What are you doing?"

"I haven't exactly had a chance to bathe recently either," he said.

"So your solution is to bathe _with _me?"

He exhaled sharply. "All I want is to capture the Avatar. Believe me, I couldn't be less interested in watching you bathe."

"Sure you aren't."

"Did you learn to be this condescending in your little village, or do you just use your body to play with people naturally?"

She gasped, stunned. And furious, she realized as the insult sank in. She growled, raising both arms and bringing up a wave of water. It smashed into Zuko as he was about to untie his topknot, pulling him into the river. Not giving him a chance to recover, she froze the water around him, pinning his arms in their outstretched position so that he could only wiggle his hands uselessly, shooting little bursts of fire from his fingertips as his icy prison floated down the river. "Come back here! Unfreeze me!"

Katara huffed, stripping down and sliding into the chilly water so she could use the sand at the bottom of the river to scrub the dirt and grime away. Zuko floated downstream, still shooting up little tufts of fire. Some of the ice had already started to melt, but he'd have to work for a few more minutes to get free, she thought.

Content, she washed her hair and skin, then briefly left the water to relieve herself before Zuko could come charging back here. When he didn't return after a quarter hour, she began to wonder if he'd drowned. _Wouldn't that be convenient? _she thought acidly, still bitter about his remark. Using her body to play with people . . . Who did he think he was? Who did he think _she _was?

Since he hadn't come back, she took the time to wash her clothes, which smelled foul after a week of continuous use. Even her coat was grungy. She'd just finished bending the water out of her underclothes and putting them on when she caught sight of Zuko stalking along the bank, his face contorted with rage. "You threw me into the river."

"And?"

He blinked, thrown off by her reply. Had he really expected her to be afraid of him because he was shouting? Did he think she was still the little girl he'd chased around the world?

"You _threw _me into the _river_," he repeated.

"Yes, we've established that." With her bending, she pulled the water from her day clothes and finished dressing. "I'm done with my bath, so I'm going to head back to camp. I'm sure your uncle will have some tea ready for us." She grabbed her coat and siphoned the water trapped in its fibers back into the river, leaving Zuko behind. He started cursing behind her, throwing up fireballs that would undoubtedly attract the notice of any nearby Earth Kingdom citizens. While she'd decided to stay with him until Aang could find her, she certainly wouldn't be upset if Zuko ran into a little trouble with the Earth Kingdom.

"Welcome back," Iroh said as she reached the camp. "I've just finished making that tea."

"That's great." She sat down next to the campfire, using her coat as a cushion, and allowed Iroh to pour her a cup from the tin teapot he'd acquired somewhere. "Where did you get the cups?" she asked.

"I _may _have borrowed them from the rescue ship. Along with the teapot. Do not worry—I left plenty to go around."

She waited for Iroh to take a sip of his own tea, then tried hers. It had a fresh taste to it—pine needles tasted like they smelled, apparently—and she quickly drained her cup. "This is good."

"The key to brewing good tea is patience," Iroh said. "You must allow it to steep long enough for the flavor to spread through the water."

_Patience, _she thought, closing her eyes. _All I need to do is be patient, and eventually, Aang will find me. _

Zuko returned to camp half an hour later, showing no signs of the temper tantrum he'd thrown when she'd left the river. Wordlessly, he sat next to the fire, allowing his uncle to pour him a cup of tea, which he drank without the slightest twitch of his face. It was only about half an hour later that he spoke. "Uncle, would you mind getting us more firewood?"

His uncle looked a bit puzzled by the request, but got up and headed out into the woods without question. The exchange made Katara wonder who was really in charge. Zuko seemed too hotheaded, but Iroh's passiveness and wisdom made him seem more like an advisor than a leader, though she suspected he _could _lead, if he had to.

"I'm sorry about what I said back at the river," Zuko said stiffly, staring into the fire. "It was uncalled for."

The apology was so unexpected that she could only stare. _He's . . . apologizing? To me? Why? What does he hope to gain from that? _"Well . . . I guess it was a little petty of me to freeze you in a block of ice and send you downriver. Not to say you didn't deserve it," she added quickly. "Just so we're clear."

He nodded, pouring more tea for himself and drinking it despite the fact that steam was still rising from the top of the cup. Firebenders. Honestly.

"You didn't try to escape," he said after a long moment. "Why?"

"Like I said, sticking with you is my best chance of finding Aang. As much as I'd love to see you drown, you _are _pretty good at tracking us down."

"Yeah, I guess. Doesn't seem to matter, though. Every time I come close to capturing him, he evades me. Every time I use one of you against him, he finds another solution."

"He's an airbender. That's how he thinks." She fell silent, resting her chin on her arms as she stared at the fire. "You'll never be able to keep him restrained."

"I only need him restrained long enough to get him into the Fire Nation."

"And then what?" she demanded. "Are you going to let him go?"

"No," he said irritably. "I'll get my honor back. My father will restore my title as crown prince. Then the Avatar will be someone else's problem."

"Right." She infused the word with as much mocking disbelief as she could fit into a single syllable. "That doesn't sound likely to backfire at all."

"You don't know anything," Zuko said, standing up and walking over to the tarp. "If you're not going to try to escape, I'm not going to bother keeping an eye on you. Goodnight."

_That must be the most insincere "goodnight" I've ever heard, _she thought, scowling. "Goodnight."

When Iroh returned fifteen minutes later with a bundle of kindling, Katara laid her coat out on the ground and went to sleep.


	12. Bitter Irony

Chapter Twelve

"Fire Lord, it is an honor to be in your presence."

Ozai peered through the flames to study the messenger kowtowing before him. Pieces of his armor were missing, and the prongs of his helmet had snapped off. _I will have to order someone to fix these infernal helmets, _Ozai thought, glancing at his stoic attendant. "Go fetch the master armorer. He will be next in line for an audience."

"Yes, my liege." The girl slipped into the shadows, moving with the grace of an assassin.

Ozai turned back to the messenger kneeling in front of him. "Report."

"Sire, I have just arrived from the North Pole. Our fleet took massive damage, and we lost the battle."

His eyes narrowed, but he did not engulf the man in flames as he wanted to. Good messengers were hard to come by. "Explain."

According to the man, Zhao had led the fleet up to the northern city, where they had attacked the great ice wall and invaded. The attack had gone well at first—minor casualties only—and within an hour of the troops making landfall, the moon had vanished from the sky. When Ozai pressed for details, the messenger claimed he had heard that the disappearance of the moon was a result of Zhao killing the moon spirit, and that Iroh—Ozai's lazy, tea-loving brother _Iroh—_had then attacked Zhao in retribution.

_He will have to be dealt with,_ Ozai thought, eyes narrowing. _Him and __that failure who calls himself my son. _

"I'm sorry, your highness, but all the soldiers who witnessed it perished either prior to leaving the city or when the Avatar destroyed the fleet."

Anger flashed through him, burning away any shred of mercy he might have felt. "The _Avatar _destroyed the fleet?"

The man's eyes widened. "Uh, yes, my liege. It was astonishing. He _merged _with the moon spirit and became this fearsome creature made from water. It . . ." Under Ozai's stare, he trailed off.

"Do you not agree," Ozai said, lowering the flames in front of the dais and softening his voice to a hiss, "that you should have _led _your explanation with the Avatar's presence?"

"I . . . I'm sorry, my liege. I thought to explain chronologically what happened. When the Avatar attacked, we were forced to retreat back to the ships. This turned out to be a mistake because as soon as the Avatar finished clearing our soldiers out of the city, he caused a massive surge of water that capsized all but four of our ships. Two were too badly damaged to make the trip back, and so set their course for the nearest colony in the Earth Kingdom. One ship remained to perform rescue operations. My ship went straight to the Fire Nation to relay critical information. My liege, we sailed as quickly as we could."

Ozai settle back into his throne. _Perhaps I should extend the messenger hawk program to individual ships instead of only naval bases. Then I'd have had this information sooner. _"Continue," he growled. "And don't leave out important details this time."

Stammering, the man finished his report. Then, because Ozai liked the look of terror in the man's eyes, he decided to spare him instead of having him executed for incompetence. "Send in the next visitor on your way out."

The next visitor, as ordered, was Master Armorer Chun-Shi. Ozai explained to him the problem with the helmets, to which the armorer replied that the flame-shaped spikes in the soldier's heavy armor were designed to intimidate weak-willed enemies of the Fire Nation. The armorer then assured him that he would devote time to making the helmet spikes more durable. Ozai dismissed him and sent for his daughter.

She arrived immediately, never far from him, and he took a moment to appreciate her. A firebending prodigy with a mind for battle and a wit as sharp as a spear—though always applied in the right places, and never directed at him. Unlike her failure of a brother, she showed cleverness, leadership, competence. The perfect specimen. The perfect tool.

"Iroh is a traitor," he said, watching her golden-brown eyes flicker to his face, "and your brother Zuko is a failure. I have a task for you."

* * *

Katara settled into a routine over the next few days. In the mornings, before dawn, she woke to the sounds of Zuko going through his firebending forms, sending out controlled jets of flame with every strike. Occasionally, his uncle commented on his stance or corrected some minute flaw in his movements, but most of the time, Iroh simply let his nephew practice while he brewed tea.

For some reason, Zuko always took off his shirt to do his forms. At first, she figured this was a result of Zuko trying to look as impressive as he could, but after a few days of watching his daily practice, she began to realize that the removal of his shirt was more of a safety measure than anything else. Loose clothes could catch fire easily, and Zuko, though generally graceful, occasionally faltered when it came time to perform the more difficult movements in his forms. Twice, he lit a nearby tree on fire during his routines, which he quickly extinguished with the very firebending that had caused the disruption in the first place.

Each day she studied his techniques, his habits. When the time came to reunite with Aang, she needed to be prepared for Zuko's assaults.

After observing Zuko for a moderate amount of time each day, Katara went down to the river to catch fish for their morning meal. Zuko had protested the first morning, insisting on accompanying her to the water to make sure she didn't try to escape, but after four days, he grew impatient with watching her stand at the edge of the river, waiting for fish to swim by. After that, he ignored her when she went fishing, but never expressed any gratitude for what she brought back to camp.

Sometime around mid-morning, they'd pack up their limited supplies and walk along the river. Katara knew why they chose this route—rivers inevitably led to civilization, and since they needed more supplies, Zuko and Iroh searched for one of the Fire Nation colonies, where firebenders would be welcomed, at least by the soldiers and Fire Nation citizens occupying the town. Katara had her doubts about any Earth Kingdom residents welcoming them with anything other than rocks and insults. If there were any Earth Kingdom people who'd chosen to stay in spite of the Fire Nation's occupation.

They walked for a solid eight hours, from mid-morning to early evening, then found a place to set up camp. At this point, Zuko would climb a tree to see if he could spot any signs of civilization, Iroh would brew more pine-needle tea, and Katara would contemplate the fact that traveling had never been so _dull _with Aang there to act as a tour guide. At least when they'd been in mortal peril, things had been interesting. But Zuko was even more strict about setting a good pace than Sokka, and without a flying bison, even their quickest pace was still numbingly slow. So eight days later when Zuko announced that he could see houses in the distance, she was more excited than they were.

"Let's get going," Zuko said, echoing her thoughts. "We can make it there by nightfall."

"By then, it will be too dark to see where we are walking," Iroh said in his rumbling voice. "It may be wiser to spend one more night camping, then start fresh in the morning."

"We've been looking for a town like this for over a week," Zuko snapped. "I'm not spending another night sleeping on the tarp when we can walk the rest of the evening and buy supplies."

"The shops might all be closed by the time we arrive," Iroh said. "What will we do then? Sleep on the tarp for another night, only closer to civilization and having risked twisting an ankle in the dark for no reason?"

Katara glanced between them, crossing her arms. "It can't hurt to check," she said at last. "If we _do _make it to the village before the shops close, we can at least buy a couple bed rolls."

"You're agreeing with me?" Zuko asked, his impatience disappearing. It struck her, then, that he wasn't much older than she was—little more than a year, judging by his voice.

"I guess I am." She shrugged, wishing she sounded defiant instead of resigned. She looked back at Iroh. "I think if we have a chance to resupply sooner, we should take it, but if you're set on staying here . . ." She let the sentence hang in the air, not wanting to promise that she'd agree or obey. It would set a bad precedent.

Iroh studied her, then looked to his nephew. "It is good to see you both in agreement. Very well. We will try to make it to the village tonight."

They kept walking, and despite the deepening dusk, Zuko pushed their pace faster. When the night grew even darker, he held his hand out and summoned a flame above his palm. _Torchlight. Never thought firebending could be good for something so mundane. _

Actually, now that she'd thought about it, Zuko and Iroh used their firebending for a lot of mundane tasks. Starting their campfire, obviously, but also rapidly cooking the fish she caught by running a small jet of flame over them as they hung over the campfire. Twice, she'd seen Iroh heat up his tea with a surge of heat from his hand, seeming to think no more of the action than she would of using her waterbending to stir a pot of soup. After witnessing the destructive side of firebending, its mundane uses seemed so . . . well, _mundane_.

She'd gotten so lost in thought that when Zuko pitched forward suddenly, she instinctively raised her arms and pulled a thick stream of water from the river. Before she could see who was attacking them, Zuko grumbled a string of curses that actually made her gasp. "What happened?" she asked, scanning the trees for signs of movement. "Are we under attack?"

"No, I twisted my flaming ankle."

"You know, Nephew, I did tell you that it was unwise to travel after dark."

"Well, thanks for your deep and insightful advice," Zuko said, voice dripping with sarcasm. He rolled onto his back, clutching his ankle and breathing deeply.

Katara watched it all in silence, the stream of water she'd pulled from the river still floating above her head. Below, Zuko had gone nearly motionless, glaring up at the branches. Even his face had smoothed out, his usual scowl replaced by a blank look. "We have to keep moving," he said at last, sitting up.

"Don't be an idiot," Katara snapped. "You're not in any condition to walk."

"I don't remember asking your opinion, waterbender."

_He's never_ _going to call me by name, is he? _She scowled, kneeling in the undergrowth and directing a smaller stream of water away from the first. "Let me see your ankle."

As she reached for his foot, he pulled it away. "I don't need your help."

"Obviously you do."

"Zuko, I think it is time for you to set your pride aside and accept help," Iroh said, his voice strained. It didn't surprise Katara to see the concern shining in his eyes—Iroh, at least, had proven himself a reasonable authority figure, if a little too lenient with his obstinate nephew. She could admit, at least to herself, that she sort of admired him, despite him being Fire Nation, and it puzzled her how he could be related to someone so irritating and unlikeable.

After a long moment, Zuko laid his foot out, and Katara started examining it. "I'm going to need more light," she said to Iroh, who crouched next to her and summoned a small flame to act as a torch.

The ankle wasn't broken, Katara concluded after a quick perusal, but it _was _badly twisted. In most cases, the only remedy was to wrap it and keep weight off it for a few days, but she'd gotten good enough at healing during her travels, though she'd never taken a healing lesson after that first session with Yugoda. Coating her hand in water, she probed at the ankle. "Stay still."

He did, letting her work. She had a lot of practice with scrapes and bruises. Even burns. But the damage from a twisted ankle would be beneath the surface, which required more time and energy to repair. Healing wounds beneath the skin was less about using the water and more about realigning the energy paths through the body. By twisting his ankle, Zuko had also twisted up the energy flow in his lower leg. So, Katara concluded, if she fixed that, she could heal the wound.

"Better?" she asked as she felt the chi paths knit together again.

Zuko looked at her, his expression oddly vulnerable. "Yes," he said, looking away and clearing his throat. "Thank you."

Her eyes widened—this was the first time he'd shown even the slightest hint of gratitude for anything she'd done. He never thanked her when she brought back fish for their meals or helped set up camp, despite being their prisoner. She supposed healing him was a bit more involved than doing chores around camp, but _still._ "Healing takes up a lot of energy," she said. "And you should probably keep off that ankle for a while anyway. We'll make camp for the night."

No one argued, so she set up the tarp while Iroh made tea, using his wide, callused hands to heat it up rather than bothering with a fire. Since it was too dark for her to see the fish in the stream, they ate a couple of the traveling cakes, and she thought about how much better her situation had become since she'd been tied up in a lifeboat north of the Earth Kingdom. Hands free, allowed to bend, participating in their travels instead of passively sitting in a boat while Zuko paddled. It seemed ironic that her decision to stay had put her in an excellent position to escape.

More ironic still was how normal things seemed even though she was camping with the enemy.


	13. Dreaming of Days Past

Chapter Thirteen

Zuko had trouble sleeping that night. Thoughts kept nipping at the edge of his mind like tiny flames, the minutes burning away as he tried in vain to smother the distractions. _She must have some ulterior motive for healing me, _he thought, flexing his foot. His ankle ached, but not nearly as much as it should have. _She must have done it so I'd feel like I owed her, _he thought, eyes flickering to the opposite end of the tarp, where the girl slept, her coat wrapped loosely around her shoulders like a blanket.

As usual, she'd laid down as far from him as she could without lying on the ground. She'd started out facing away from him, but had rolled onto her back after she'd fallen asleep, one arm sprawled across the unoccupied part of the tarp. Every day, she made a point of showing him she didn't trust him: sleeping as far away as she could, making a point to carry the water-filled canteens, watching his morning firebending with narrowed eyes. But he could tell she was starting to grow complacent. The first few days out here, she'd lain awake, rigid and still, only going to sleep after Zuko nodded off. The past three nights, all she'd had to do to sleep was wrap herself in her coat and close her eyes.

Now _he _was the one lying awake, hands folded over his abdomen as he stared up at the stars. Up until today, he'd thought he'd understood her. Her motivations for agreeing to be his captive made sense—or at least they had once he'd had a chance to really think about them. Her insistence on maintaining a certain amount of freedom also made sense: She needed to feel as if she _could _escape, if the situation turned against her. She didn't know that after her temper tantrum at the river that first day, he'd taken to watching her in secret. He was there when she went to the stream to catch fish. He was there when she wandered off to get firewood. He was there when she _bathed_, though he made a point to avert his eyes and instead keep his ears open for her splashing around in the water. He wasn't a _voyeur. _

But tonight she'd done something he didn't understand. Tonight, she'd used her bending to heal his twisted ankle, to soothe away the pain and swelling even after he'd gritted his teeth and decided to ignore it.

But why?

_Maybe she's just as impatient to meet up with her friends as I am to capture the Avatar, _he thought. It seemed the simplest explanation, but it still had holes. For one, he hadn't actively been seeking out the Avatar when he'd twisted his ankle, but rather looking for a village where they could restock their supplies. And two—whether she realized it or not—he had no leads. He'd spent enough time tracking the Avatar to know he'd come looking for his missing companion, but until he had some idea where the Avatar was to begin with, he was wandering blind.

Perhaps she _was _manipulating him. That was what Azula would do, if she could heal people. Establish her abilities, then threaten to withhold them if someone refused to show proper deference. Was the waterbender reminding him of her abilities in the hopes that he'd be injured again, then forced to give her more negotiating power in exchange for being healed? That seemed convoluted for a peasant, but then again, he'd underestimated her before. Zuko wasn't such a fool as to ignore how competent she'd become since her stay in the North Pole.

Three paces away, she stirred, withdrawing her outstretched hand and rolling onto her stomach. "No, don't . . ." she murmured, the words slurred. He hadn't realized she mumbled in her sleep. "Let go . . ."

He considered waking her, complaining about her rambling. Not because he felt like annoying her, really, but because making barbed comments had become something of a habit between them these last few days. Too tired to bother, her rolled onto his side, facing away from her.

"Zuko . . ."

_What? _He craned his neck to look back at her. Katara fidgeted, burrowing deeper into her coat as her fingers clawed at the tarp. _She's dreaming about me._

He closed his eyes, embers of uncertainty flaring to life in his chest. Obviously any dream she had of him would be a nightmare. He'd chased her and her friends all over the world. How else was she supposed to think of him, except as a monster? _I'm only doing what I have to do, _he told himself, turning away. _She couldn't possibly understand how important it is for me to regain my honor. It doesn't matter what some water tribe girl thinks of me. _

He put it out of his mind. But it was still a long time before he fell asleep.

* * *

Her dreams swirled around her like a tempest.

Katara stood on the metal deck of a dilapidated Fire Nation warship, snow scraping against her cheeks like tiny grains of sand. Her hands were tethered behind her back, and the ship rocked perilously underfoot. Dozens of firebenders in their pointed helmets surged across the deck, jets of flame shooting in every direction.

"Don't worry," a familiar voice said. Zuko's hands closed around her wrist. "I'll save you from the pirates."

_Pirates? _she thought, and suddenly the firebenders morphed into the ragtag bunch of thieves Zuko had once hired to catch Aang. The leader grinned, his pet iguana-parrot squawking. Katara felt a flash of heat at her wrists, and the ropes binding her hands fell away as ashes.

"Stay close," Zuko said, standing at her side as he took a firebending stance. She pulled a stream of water from the sea below the ship and sent it hurtling toward one of the pirates. Zuko moved in unison, his movements oddly graceful as he sent streams of fire at their enemies. Something about the way they fought so seamlessly together tugged at her mind—shouldn't they be fighting _each other_?—but she had no time to think about it as one of the pirates grabbed a machete from the loop at his waist and swung it in her direction.

"No, don't!" She raised her hands to block, but at that moment, the moon disappeared from the sky, and the water she'd been bending dropped to the deck. Katara threw herself to the side, narrowly avoiding the sweeping slice of the machete.

The pirate grinned, exposing a mouthful of gold and brown teeth. He lunged forward, swiping and slashing, pushing her further back. Through all the chaos, she met Zuko's striking gold eyes. "Katara!" he called across the deck.

The pirate advanced. The moon still hadn't returned. Katara did the only thing she could think to do: she reached out, searching for help. "Zuko!"

The firebender sprinted across the deck, but it was too late. The machete had already buried itself six inches deep in her chest.

* * *

She woke the way warriors woke when they heard a twig snap in the night, the way fire burst into life from a firebender's punch, the way a tiny elephant rat bolted into its den when a hawk screeched overhead. She woke all at once, heart racing, and leapt into a fighting stance.

"We're not under attack," Zuko said quietly, standing over her. Belatedly, she realized he'd been the one to nudge her awake with the toe of his pointy shoe. "I want to talk to you."

_He wants to talk? Now? It's not even dawn yet. _Wary but curious, she followed him down the slope, toward the river they'd been following. _Why is he leading me toward the water? What's he up to? Is he so confident in his ability to beat me that even the full force of the river wouldn't be enough to stop him, or is he bringing me here as a show of peace? _She almost laughed at the thought. Peace. From a firebender. Right. "What do you want?"

"You irritate me," he told her.

_He brought me out here to insult me? _"You irritate me, too."

"No, that's not . . ." He closed his eyes, inhaling deeply. "That's not what I meant. You irritate me because I don't understand you."

"Yeah, I'm sure you understand the innermost thoughts and feelings of everyone except for me."

He gave her a flat look. "Why did you heal me?"

"Because." She paused, not wanting to admit she had no real answer. "Why should I explain myself to you? It was my decision."

Zuko didn't get frustrated. He didn't get angry. He didn't raise his voice, nor did he lower it to that soft, threatening murmur he sometimes used. Instead, he sat down at the edge of the river, watching the water go by. "Why would you bother healing a monster like me?"

_Monster? _She frowned, wondering what could prompt the arrogant, short-tempered Fire Prince to call himself a monster. There were plenty of reasons why _she _would call him a monster. He'd chased Aang all the way to the North Pole. He'd used her as bait twice now—once after hiring a bunch of pirates, and again now, though he seemed to be keeping them out of sight an awful lot for someone who wanted to display her like a gutted fish in an arctic seal trap. But she couldn't think of a single reason why he'd call _himself _a monster—that sort of self-image fostered depression, and she had trouble imagining Zuko being anything other than temperamental and vicious.

Yet here he was, asking her why she'd healed him in a tone that made him sound almost as young as Aang. Katara looked away. "I don't like seeing people in pain."

"Not even the person you hate most?"

"What makes you think _you're _that person?"

His head snapped up, eyes going wide. "You mean I'm not?"

"You're giving it a good enough attempt," she snapped, "but no. You're not. The firebender who killed my mother is." She turned away, and the river started churning violently in response to the tempest in her heart.

"You lost your mother?"

"The Fire Nation took her away from me." She waited for him to make some snide comment, waited for him to take advantage of her emotion state to rub it in like a hot piece of charcoal.

Instead, he sighed and said, "I guess that's something we have in common."


	14. The Pensive Prince

Chapter Fourteen

_"I guess that's something we have in common." _

_It has to be a trick_, Katara thought, fingernails biting into the meat of her hands. _He can't really mean that. He must be lying to manipulate me somehow. _She sucked in a breath through her teeth, wishing she could make her eyes stop watering, wishing she could ignore that part of her heart that was still torn from grief. "You're lying."

"I wish I were," Zuko said, looking out at the water. "She disappeared on the night of Fire Lord Azulon's death. No one's seen her since. It's not hard to figure out what happened to her." He sighed softly, wrapping his arms around his knees. With anyone else, the posture would have looked timid, depressed, but he made it look dignified. And the shadow of pain in his eyes was very, very real.

_He's telling the truth, _Katara realized, feeling a sharp stab of guilt for not believing him. "Zuko, I . . ."

"It's almost morning," he said, getting to his feet. "If you have anything you need to finish before we set out, I suggest you do it now." Without another word, he walked away, his stride purposeful. She watched him go, struggling to reconcile the hotheaded prince who'd tracked them all around the world with the vulnerable boy she'd glimpsed moments ago. It was as if, for a moment, they hadn't been enemies, just two people from vastly different lands who shared the same terrible loss.

* * *

Iroh heard his nephew's quiet footfalls coming up from the river. _It looks like it's going to be another early day, _he thought, eyelids sliding open. He stretched, joints popping, and yawned loudly. "Good morning, Nephew."

"Good morning, Uncle."

Iroh blinked; it had been days since he'd received such a cordial greeting from his nephew, weeks since he'd heard Zuko say anything without at least a touch of irritation or impatience in his voice. It made him seem cautiously optimistic.

Iroh sat up, stretched some more, then walked over to their extinguished fire pit and started some hot water boiling for tea. "Our guest must already be awake," he remarked, nodding toward the tarp, wrinkled and unoccupied.

"She's down by the river. She'll be back soon."

He nodded, adding a bit of kindling to the fire, then coaxing the coals from last night back to life. "You seem to be growing accustomed to the freedom she requests from us," he said to his nephew, infusing his voice with as much approval as he could manage without sounding insincere. Zuko had little taste for subtlety. "It is almost as if you no longer consider her a prisoner."

"She's more manageable if she thinks she has the freedom to walk away," Zuko said, nose wrinkling. "But we all know that her best chance of meeting up with the Avatar is to travel with us. She can't leave and she knows it. There's no point in keeping a close watch on her."

Iroh raised an eyebrow. _This is most unusual, _he thought. Zuko tended to micromanage. Back when they'd still had a ship, a crew, the only time Zuko had gone more than an hour without ordering someone around had been at night, when he slept. He had even ordered Iroh around, though considering they were both part of the royal family, Iroh had chosen to take many of Zuko's orders as suggestions, rather than commands. His nephew was still young and occasionally unreasonable, after all.

"She told me her mother was killed by the Fire Nation," Zuko said suddenly. Iroh's eyes widened. "So I told her that my mother disappeared without a trace years ago."

_Most unusual, _Iroh thought again. "I had not thought you were ready to talk about that day."

Zuko started to speak, then closed his eyes. "Is the tea finished yet?"

Iroh glanced at the teapot. The water was boiling, so he lowered the flames and allowed the water to settle to a more reasonable temperature before dropping in a handful of pine needles. "I must say, Nephew, you are acting very strange this morning."

Zuko didn't respond, only stared at the campfire as the flames were reflected in his eyes. "You used to go into battle all the time. Did you ever feel sympathy for the people you were fighting?"

The question brought his mind to the siege of Ba Sing Se. Hollow-eyed refugees fleeing toward the wall only to be cut down before they could reach it. Noble earthbenders screaming as they burned. Prisoners of war locked away in metal cells and tortured for information. He had wondered, later, if the spirits had killed Lu Ten to punish Iroh for not putting a stop to it all. The spirits themselves hadn't killed him, of course, but there was a terrible sort of symmetry in the idea that his son had paid for his father's foolishness. If he'd listened to his conscience, pulled out of Ba Sing Se when he'd seen its people suffering and starving inside the walls, his son might still be alive.

"You should never blind yourself to the suffering of your enemies," Iroh said at last, pouring the tea into cups. "More importantly, you should never deafen yourself to the words of your own conscience. Doing so leads only to pain and misery."

Zuko nodded. "Thank you, Uncle. I'll try to remember that." He picked up his cup of tea and drank deeply, downing it all without even seeming to taste it. Iroh suppressed a grimace. He had managed to instill _some _life lessons in the boy, but he had yet to teach him a proper appreciation for tea.

The girl returned to camp a few minutes later, carrying a block of ice with three fish trapped inside. Despite her success, her expression was troubled, her lips pulled down at the corners. She said nothing as she unfroze the block of ice and speared the fish trapped inside with one of the sharp sticks they'd picked up on their first day walking.

"I see you had a successful fishing trip," Iroh said, hoping the comment would prompt some sort of response. She glanced up, looking distracted, then quickly speared the other two fish and rested them over the fire. Zuko, as was his habit, knelt in front of each fish and seared them with a controlled stream of fire, cooking each in a quarter of the time it would have taken them to cook over the fire.

Once they'd finished eating, they packed up camp and started walking. Zuko took the lead, the waterbender close behind him. Iroh studied them from behind, curious to see what had prompted them to talk to one another about their pasts. Zuko always grew pensive this time of year—today was the anniversary of his banishment, and that would have dredged up a lot of painful memories, not all of them related to what had been done to him that day. Perhaps _that, _combined with whatever the girl had let slip about her own mother, had prompted him to be more forthcoming than usual. It would change the dynamic of their little group, Iroh knew, though whether the uneasy truce would grow more strained or more relaxed as a result, he couldn't be certain.

By midday, the village was visible through the trees. "I'm going to scout ahead and see whether it's a Fire Nation colony or an Earth Kingdom village," Zuko said, holding up his hand to bring them to a halt.

"Maybe I should go," the waterbender said. "If it turns out to be an Earth Kingdom village and they spot you, they won't show any mercy."

"And if it's one of our colonies and _you _go, they'll kill you."

"Perhaps we should all go," Iroh suggested, grinning with more gusto than he actually felt. "That way, it won't matter which kind of village it is; we'll be attacked no matter what."

Zuko and the girl both gave him flat looks. "I'm going," Zuko said at last. "I won't be spotted." He didn't give them a chance to object, stepping off the path and moving through the tightly-packed trees that ringed the village. Iroh clasped his hands together inside his sleeves, waiting.

"Is he always this bossy?" the girl asked, resting her hands on her hips.

"My nephew is accustomed to living on a ship with crew-members who obey him, however grudgingly. Considering that he has no one else to order around, I would say he is adjusting remarkably well." _But is he adjusting well enough to fit in with whoever we may encounter in the Earth Kingdom? _Iroh wondered, his forced cheer evaporating. With no ship and no crew to back them up if things grew dangerous, it could be wise to disguise themselves until they could have another vessel sent to pick them up. Of course, for that, they'd need new clothes, which would require them to visit the village Zuko was currently examining. Hopefully they could stay out of danger long enough to resupply.

Zuko returned a few minutes later, sliding out of the undergrowth so smoothly that if Iroh had not been looking in his direction, he wouldn't have sensed him there until he spoke. "It doesn't look like there's anything dangerous there. It's one of our colonies."

Iroh nodded. "How shall we approach?"

Zuko considered that for a moment, eyes sliding to the waterbender. "Since it's a Fire Nation colony, it's possible we'll be recognized. We won't announce ourselves, but if someone asks who we are, we'll tell them. You," he went on, addressing the waterbender, "will play the part of our prisoner."

"Play the part? I thought I _was _your prisoner."

"That's . . ." A hint of pink touched Zuko's unscarred cheek. "You are. But if anyone's going to believe it, you'll need to be properly restrained, not wandering through town with your hands unbound when you could kill anyone there with a puddle."

Several emotions flickered across the girl's face. Defiance at being reminded of her status among them. Resentment as she realized Zuko was right, that the path of least resistance would be for her to accept having her hands tied with grace. And—last of all—pride as Zuko indirectly complimented her resourcefulness and skill in waterbending. _Her face is too expressive, _Iroh thought, frowning. _She'll never be able to mingle among the Fire Nation nobility if she continues to expose her emotions so easily._

He shook off the thought. Even Iroh could admit that the idea of the waterbender entering any Fire Nation political circle was so absurd that there was no point in planning for it, as much as he liked to plan for any eventuality. It made him wonder why the thought had occurred to him at all.

"Fine," the girl said at last, holding her arms out in front of her. "But I want to be untied once we're somewhere I won't be seen."

Zuko nodded, seeming to consider her request something of a given. Wordlessly, he bound her hands—out in front of her, though Iroh hoped he knew she'd still be able to bend fairly easily with her arms in that arrangement.

"I'm doing the shopping this time," Zuko said, looking at him. "We don't have enough money to shop around like you always do."

Iroh smiled. "Well, if you have enough, be sure to buy some better herbs for tea. Ginseng, if you can find it."

Zuko groaned and started down the path. "Let's just go. I'm not wasting another day in the woods."


	15. Tsu Gong

Chapter Fifteen

Zuko led the waterbender by a short length of rope into the village, lips pressed into a thin line as they stepped out of the woods. The sunlight warmed his face, loosened the bundle of unease in his stomach, but his eyes flicked back and forth, surveying their surroundings.

The villagers took notice immediately, their eyes drawn to Katara. Or more accurately, to her light blue coat, so out of place in a Fire Nation colony, even one that had partially integrated with the Earth Kingdom settlement that had been here before them. Then they saw the ropes tied around her hands and looked to Zuko, their expressions an odd mix of relief, approval, and uncertainty.

"Welcome to the Tsu Gong Colony, travelers," said a thickset man in maroon robes. "It is always a treat to receive visitors from the mainland."

_They don't know who I am, _Zuko thought, _but they know where I'm from. _He frowned, glancing down at his clothes. He hadn't managed to find his usual uniform after the failed invasion of the North Pole, but his clothes were a patchwork of Fire Nation armor, and considering he had a waterbender for a prisoner, the villagers had reason enough to assume he came from the mainland, where the bulk of Fire Nation soldiers originated from. "Where's the nearest inn?" Zuko asked.

The man's easy bearing faltered under his commanding tone. A bead of sweat traveled down the side of his neck. "The inn. Yes. Of course. It's just up this road and on your left. The large building with the big sign out front."

Zuko nodded and started heading in the direction the man had indicated, the waterbender trailing after him only after he gave a sharp tug on the rope. He didn't look back, but he sensed her scowling behind him as they moved through the bustling marketplace. Many of the merchants wore greens and browns—unusual for a Fire Nation colony—but the prominent flame-shaped insignias on every stall showed a devotion that reminded him of the palace. Of home.

"It seems the people here have adopted the local fashions," his uncle said cheerfully. "Perhaps we should look into buying some clothes that would help us fit in with the rest of the Earth Kingdom."

"I don't want to fit in with the Earth Kingdom," Zuko snapped, reflexively tugging the waterbender's leash.

"_Hey_," she said sharply.

He gave her a flat look, then kept walking, ignoring the merchants hawking their wares. As much as they needed to resupply, he had to find a place for his uncle and the girl to stay out of sight while he took care of things. The last thing he needed was for anyone to recognize the girl as one of the Avatar's companions and end up dealing with the resulting mess.

At least no one had recognized _him _yet, he thought as the inn came into view. He was in no mood to deal either with the derisive comments about his banishment _or _the fawning of minor bureaucrats hoping to gain favor even if it came from a disgraced prince and his eccentric uncle.

"Look, Zuko, the sign says there's a spa out back." His uncle pointed to the sign in question, upon which some employee had painstakingly rendered an image of a bountiful hot spring surrounded by tropical foliage, including what looked to be fire lilies, which didn't actually bloom in the Earth Kingdom.

"We don't have the time or money for a trip to the spa," he said. "We'll stay here one night, have a couple hot meals, and then leave tomorrow with whatever supplies we can get from that marketplace."

"Come now, Nephew. Surely you would not begrudge your old uncle a few days of relaxation after weeks of hard traveling."

He grit his teeth. "One night. That's as long as we're staying. Then it's back to hunting the Avatar." He pushed through the doors of the inn, still dragging the waterbender behind him and wishing she wouldn't pause to gawk at everything.

The innkeeper stepped out of the back, absently polishing a vase. He started to smile, then froze as he took them in. Abruptly, he set the vase down and dropped to his knees. "It is an honor to welcome members of the royal family to my humble inn," he said, voice quivering slightly. _So much for anonymity, _Zuko thought, irritated but resigned. "Please, come in. I will have our best room prepared for you."

"We're only staying one night," Zuko said at the same time his uncle said, "We are grateful for your hospitality."

"It is I who am grateful." The innkeeper bowed once again, the movement exceedingly formal. "Is there anything else you would like? We can have a hot meal sent up within a quarter of an hour, or some time with our skilled massage experts reserved for you in the spa right away."

"We would love a spa session," Iroh said brightly.

"We need one room," Zuko said. "The meal can wait."

"Of course, Prince Zuko. Right away." The man hurried into the back room, voice high-pitched with excitement as he gave orders to his staff. He returned only a moment later, beckoning them up the stairs. "Please, allow me to show you to your room."

They headed upstairs, the steps creaking as they ascended. While the inn was by no means in poor repair, it had that aged quality that spoke of a building that had stood for several decades. The innkeeper led them to the room at the end of the hallway. "I do apologize if this is not as luxurious as you are accustomed to. You see, this inn once belonged to the Earth Kingdom barbarians that lived in this area before we made our colony. I am afraid they lacked the foresight to build more suitable rooms."

"This will serve just fine," his uncle said. "Although I hope that we can afford it. You see, we lost most of our money when our ship was sabotaged by pirates a few weeks ago."

"Please, General Iroh, do not concern yourself with such things. Having such esteemed guests is payment enough."

_I never thought I'd meet someone who fawned over his betters more than Zhao, _Zuko thought, remembering how his father had favored the man for his devotion even before Zuko had been banished.

"As for the girl," the innkeeper went on, gesturing to Katara without ever really looking in her direction, "we do not have proper facilities to hold her here, but there is a jail just down the street where she can be contained while you both enjoy yourselves."

"She stays with us," Zuko said firmly, and for the first time, the innkeeper's zealous attempts to please them faltered.

"Well, she . . . I just thought that you might be weary of tolerating a savage from the North Pole, so—"

"I'm not a savage," Katara snapped, stalking forward. The innkeeper paled, retreating until Katara reached the end of her tether and could pursue him no more. "And I'm from the _Southern _Water Tribe. Or does the distinction not _matter _to you?"

The man glanced at Zuko, as if begging him to control his prisoner. With some surprise, he realized he didn't really want to, and not because seeing the man flinch back from her amused him, though it did. Rather, he didn't feel inclined to stop her after hearing him refer to her as a savage. "The girl stays with us. She's too valuable a prisoner to be watched over by ordinary soldiers."

The innkeeper seemed to struggle with this for a moment, then eventually let out a breath. "As you wish, Prince Zuko. It shall be done." He bowed. "Please let me know if you require anything further during your stay."

Nodding, Zuko stepped through the doorway, followed first by Katara, since she was essentially tied to him, and then by his uncle, who looked lighthearted as ever as he mused about visiting the spa outside. As soon as Zuko closed the door behind them, Katara spoke. "Can you believe that guy?"

"This is a Fire Nation colony," Zuko said curtly. "They don't think much of water tribe people."

"Neither do you, apparently," she said, fiddling with her bindings.

"Well," Iroh said, effectively cutting off the conversation before it could veer into harsher territory. "I believe I will make my way downstairs and see what sort of tea I can find in the kitchen."

_This is no time for tea, _Zuko thought, annoyed but unable to think of a compelling reason that his uncle should stay, except to guard the girl—something that she had proven over and over they didn't need to worry about, considering she didn't want to escape. "Fine."

His uncle left, closing the door softly behind him. The girl fidgeted, fingers wriggling at the ropes around her wrists. "You said you'd untie me once we were out of sight."

Sighing, Zuko released the length of rope he'd been using to tow her along and set to work unraveling the knots keeping her hands tied. As they came free, he noticed the marks they'd left behind—discolored furrows in her skin where he'd pulled them too tight in his haste to enter the village. He tensed, eyes flicking to her face. She was staring very deliberately to the side, not even acknowledging his existence, but her jaw tensed as he ran his fingers over the marks. "Sit down. Let me see your wrists."

"I'm fine."

"Let me see them anyway."

Icy blue eyes flickered to his face, then away. After a moment, she sat on the edge of one of the beds. _Why is she acting so cold all of a sudden? _he wondered. These past few days, she'd seemed almost agreeable, as if hating him was simply too much effort to maintain over an extended period. Not that they'd been friendly or anything, but they'd stopped going out of their way to belittle each other. Why was she acting so distant now that he was untying her? What was her _problem_?

He captured her wrists between his fingertips, feeling the roughness of her skin where the rope had chafed against it. Even knowing she could heal herself, he felt a twinge of guilt for not even considering that he might have tied her hands too tightly. He wanted to erase the marks, to soothe the pain away. Absently, he stoked his inner fire to warm his fingertips and started gently massaging her wrists.

"What are you doing?" she asked, withdrawing her hands slightly.

"Heat relaxes the muscles," he said. "With marks like those, your wrists probably ache."

If anything, her eyes grew colder. "Gee, I wonder whose fault that is?"

His fingers tensed, growing hotter, and he forced himself to relax as he worked her wrists beneath his fingertips. "I didn't realize I'd tied the ropes so tight," he said at last. "You should have said something."

"Or maybe _you _should have been more careful when you were tying me up!"

He scowled, dropping her hands and rising from his crouch. "Why are you yelling at me?"

"Maybe it's because I'm sick of being your prisoner."

"My prisoner?" He scowled. "You should be grateful I haven't kept you bound and gagged ever since we made landfall! You're treated better than any prisoner I've ever seen—you can walk away whenever you want." He stepped back. "I should take the innkeeper up on his offer to have you locked up while I run errands."

Fear replaced the defiance in her eyes. "Don't. Please don't."

"Then stop acting like I've kept you shackled these past few weeks," he said, grabbing the money pouch his uncle had left on one of the beds and starting for the door. "Stay here, don't make any noise, and don't be seen. I'll be back in an hour."


	16. Two Silver, Six Copper

Chapter Sixteen

As the door closed behind Zuko, Katara laid back on the plush bed on the left side of the room, trying not to feel out of place atop the fine, silken sheets. She flexed her jaw, still angry but unsure why. This morning's brief conversation with Zuko had stirred up her grief about her mother, but that happened often enough that there was no reason to be upset about it. She'd been irritated when he'd tied her wrists before they entered the village, but had acknowledged it as a necessity, since this was a Fire Nation colony. She didn't dare go out without her captors lest she be assaulted by someone else. The innkeeper's comments about her being a savage had been rude, but not worth remaining angry over.

It was the situation, she decided. The sense that they weren't making any progress, that the longer they traveled, the further away they were getting from Aang and Sokka. That feeling scraped at her like sandpaper, slowly peeling away her optimism and good cheer. Anyone stuck traveling the Earth Kingdom with someone like Zuko would be miserable, and her position as his prisoner—no matter how much freedom he gave her—only made it worse.

Lacking anything else to do, she unwound her braid, stripped down to her undergarments, and slid under the bedsheets. She'd woken up at sunrise every day since Iroh had broken her out of the rescue ship's prison hold, and she intended to catch up on lost sleep while she had the chance.

* * *

Carrying a pouch lined mostly with copper pieces, Zuko headed back to the bustling marketplace they'd passed on their way in. It didn't take long for him to realize that the innkeeper had already spread the word about his distinguished guests, which meant that half of the merchants eagerly called out his name while the other half looked on sullenly, their postures closed, unwelcoming. Mixed reactions for the banished prince.

Repressing a sigh, he walked through the marketplace, making note of price discrepancies, bargains, and merchants who looked willing to haggle. There had been a time, he thought, when he hadn't worried about money—when his father had quietly sent his ship enough money for them to resupply, an act of generosity made possible by the deep pockets of the royal treasury. There had been times—darker times, before the Avatar had returned—when Zuko had started to wonder if that money was his father's way of keeping Zuko out of the way. Times when Zuko had resented his father's subtle presence in his life, even when he'd devoted all his energy to completing his assigned task.

But now he had only two silver pieces and six copper pieces. He'd have to stretch every copper if he wanted to walk out of this town with enough supplies to last until his uncle could send a formal request for a new ship through the appropriate channels. So after his first sweep through the marketplace, he doubled back and visited the shops that had boasted the best prices for the things he'd need to keep traveling. Bedrolls, food that would keep, clothes.

Near the middle of the marketplace, he found the stall where he'd seen a decent selection of sleeping gear. "How much for three bedrolls?" he asked the woman behind the counter.

"A copper piece each."

The corners of his lips pulled down. "I'll give you two coppers for three bedrolls."

"Three coppers or no deal."

"I'm the prince of the Fire Nation."

The woman's lips thinned. "I have to make a living, you know. I'm already cutting you a deal at one copper apiece."

His frown deepened. He surveyed the rest of her wares—pillows, blankets, even pajamas, though those were so frivolous he didn't even consider buying them. But an extra blanket might be useful. "I'll give you three coppers if you throw in an extra blanket with each."

Her eyes narrowed in consideration. After a moment, she nodded. "Done."

Zuko laid three copper pieces on the counter and watched them disappear into her coin pouch. "You want the green bedrolls or the brown ones?"

"Green," he said, though he didn't really care. She grabbed him three, all rolled up in a neat bundle, and laid a blanket on each one. Zuko tucked them under his arm. _This had better be the most expensive thing I buy today, _he thought, moving on.

For food, he stopped at several different stalls, haggling as he purchased traveling cakes and vegetables that would keep for a while. At the stall selling salt and spices, he purchased two dozen packets of ginseng tea for one copper piece. His uncle wasn't the only one growing sick of pine needle tea.

The last thing he shopped for were clothes. A good portion of the merchants were selling beaded dresses or striking red outfits in what Zuko assumed to be the current Fire Nation style, or close to it. He walked past these without a glance, coming to a nondescript tent manned by a middle-aged woman with a dull green headband and the Earth Kingdom insignia displayed prominently on the front of her shirt. One of the few Earth Kingdom holdouts who'd stayed when the colonials had driven out the rest of her people. Likely an outcast among the villagers. She gave him a hard stare as he stepped into the shade to look at the displays, her disdain for him palpable. "You're the one who brought that water tribe girl here," she said.

"She's a valuable prisoner," he said evenly, picking a few simple green and brown shirts off the rack. "How much for these?"

"Six copper pieces."

_Damn. _He'd have to use one of his silver pieces to pay for it. He'd hoped to save those for something more important. Scowling, he grabbed a few more garments—two shirts and a pair of pants for his uncle, a long tunic and a simple kimono for Katara, and a few undergarments he hoped were the right size for their intended recipients. "How much for all of this?"

"A silver and two coppers," the woman said after a moment, then tensed when a shrill voice pierced the air. Zuko glanced over his shoulder to see a little girl standing behind him, her trousers soaked with water.

"Grandma, Azan pushed me into the river!"

The woman opened her mouth, then hesitated, eyes flicking to Zuko. "Dear, I'm with a customer. Why don't you wait outside for a minute?"

"But _grandma_ . . ." the girl whined, trailing off when she glanced up at Zuko. "Hey, how did you get that big ugly scar?"

"Kotono, that's enough," the woman said sharply, ushering the girl out toward the street. When the woman glanced back at Zuko, her face had gone pale and tight with fear. "Please, she's just a child. She hasn't learned all her manners yet, but she's a good girl. We don't want any trouble. You can have the clothes. Don't worry about paying. Just please don't give us any trouble."

It took a moment for comprehension to settle in. _She thinks I'm going to punish the girl for what she said. _His stomach knotted up. If even someone brave enough to remain in this village as the Fire Nation overtook it cowered in fear of someone like him . . . _Is this what people really think of me? When they see my face, do they see a monster? _He realized he'd lifted one hand to his scar and quickly lowered it, digging into his coin pouch and pulling out a silver and two coppers—the amount the woman had asked for after he'd laid out everything he'd wanted to buy. "I don't hurt children," he said, taking the bundle of clothes. "And I don't want any trouble."

The woman just stared at him, her face still ghostly white. Hurriedly, he left, pausing only to rearrange everything he'd bought so he could carry it all in his arms. He stopped briefly a few shops down to buy a rucksack to hold his purchases, parting with his last copper piece. _One silver piece left, _he thought, frowning. _If we can't get a new ship soon, we're going to have to find a way to make money._

He returned to the inn, where the innkeeper immediately offered to help him carry his purchases up to his room. "No," Zuko said. "I've got it."

"I insist, Your Highness."

"I decline," he said, steel in his voice. He headed up the stairs before the innkeeper could take his supplies out of his hands. After the mixed reactions from the merchants, he was as sick of being treated like a celebrity as he was of being treated like a criminal. He actually found himself looking forward to hearing Katara's withering commentary, to feeling the disdain oozing out of her, harsh but justified. Authentic. At least _she _hated him for a good reason, not just because he'd been banished and disgraced.

With his hands full, he had some trouble opening the door, but after half a minute of shifting his stack of supplies so they balanced precariously in one arm, he succeeded. "I'm back," he said, setting everything down on the unoccupied bed his uncle had claimed before he'd disappeared.

When he heard no sarcastic response, he glanced around, looking for the girl, and found her sprawled across the other bed, her hair fanning out in rich brown waves around her head. She'd kicked off the sheets, revealing that she'd removed most of her outerwear, exposing the sinuous curve of her neck and lower back. A _sarashi _wound around her breasts, pale white against her dark skin, and he could see the shape of her hips beneath the sheets.

It took him ten seconds to realize he was staring and another five seconds to look away. Once he managed that, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. It struck him, then, that in all the days since she'd agreed to remain his prisoner, he hadn't once thought of her as a woman, hadn't once paused to see her beauty. The fact was that he didn't have time for a relationship, and even if he did, there weren't many Fire Nation girls out there who would be willing to date him, and he wasn't interested in women from other nations. Couldn't be, because one day he'd regain his honor and go back to the Fire Nation, and his father would conquer every corner of the world and . . .

And there was a pretty girl lying half-naked in bed six feet away from him. He couldn't _think. _Hastily, he opened the door and stepped out into the hallway, driving all thoughts of her from his mind. Not only was she not Fire Nation, but once he found the Avatar again, she would be actively working against him. She was an enemy, and he couldn't afford to forget that.


	17. Wanting

_Author's Notes:_

_Sorry about the delay, everyone! It's been a busy couple of weeks. My uncle is in the hospital, and lately I've been focusing on finishing some original stories which I hope to eventually publish. Anyway, I will do my best to update more regularly in the future, but as they say, life happens when you're making other plans._

* * *

Chapter Seventeen

Since he couldn't very well return to the room while Katara slept in nothing but her underwear, Zuko headed downstairs. "I want to know where my uncle is," he told the innkeeper, making his voice sharp in the hopes that it would discourage the overbearing politeness he'd been subjected to every time he'd spoken to the man.

"He is with our skilled massage experts, just through that door," the innkeeper said, not even seeming to notice Zuko's tone. "There is a spot available now, if you would like a massage."

"I don't want a massage," he said, stepping out into the fenced off area behind the inn. _I want to capture the Avatar, _he thought. _I want to regain my honor. I want to go home. _

His uncle lay face-down on a table, arms and legs limp as he let the spa attendant massage his lower back. Muscles slack, he looked to be at the precipice of sleep. Zuko scowled, but walked over to the elaborate archway connecting the massage area to the nearby hot spring and sat down. After a moment, one of the attendants approached. "Is there anything I can do for you?" he asked cheerfully.

"No."

The man hesitated, then stepped away, too intimidated to simper and kowtow like innkeeper did. Good. Zuko crossed his arms in front of him, staring ahead without seeing anything. He wished he'd at least stayed long enough to put on a fresh set of clothes—he'd washed the ones he was currently wearing in the river yesterday, but after days of constant use, they were growing threadbare and grimy despite his efforts. Hardly worthy of someone of his position. _But it's been that way ever since you were banished, _he thought. _Traveling in a ship too old for the rest of the fleet, living in a cramped passenger cabin with a lumpy cot and almost no furnishings. _He closed his eyes, trying to push the thoughts away. But if the date he'd seen written on the board outside the inn was accurate, today was the anniversary of the day he'd been banished. Trying to push away those thoughts was like trying to stop the sun from setting.

Not that such a thing was impossible. Zhao had made the moon disappear, after all, so it followed that there might be some way to extinguish the sun. The memory made him think of Zhao's attack on the North Pole, and it occurred to him that he hadn't asked his uncle exactly what had happened, although his uncle had mentioned that Zhao had killed the moon spirit when they'd still been out at sea. Iroh had been with Zhao throughout the invasion, yet Zhao had been alone when Zuko had found him. Perhaps he _ought _to ask what had happened. _It could be useful to know, _he thought, remembering how Katara had lost her bending for the short time when the moon had vanished. Not that he intended to kill any spirits—his uncle would be _furious _if he meddled with the balance of the Spirit World—but if there was another way to neutralize the threat Katara presented . . . Anything had to be better than tying her hands behind her back, especially after seeing the marks he'd accidentally left behind by binding her wrists today.

_Right, _he thought. _Because finding a way to strip Katara of her bending would be _so _much more comfortable for her. _

He shook his head. Since when had he started worrying about her _comfort? _For that matter, when had he stopped thinking of her as a peasant and started thinking of her as Katara? They were enemies. He had to stop himself from thinking of her as a person, otherwise when the time came to take her down, sentimentality could make him hesitate. _I can't afford to be like Uncle, _he thought, wrinkling his nose. _I can't abandon my quest now. Not when everything I want hinges on it. _

It had been different with his uncle. Iroh had abandoned his siege of Ba Sing Se after Lu Ten's death. And unlike him, his uncle had no reason to be personally invested in the capture of Ba Sing Se. It had been a military campaign, a dangerous game of Pai Sho with Iroh as the aggressor, but his uncle's honor—his ability to go home—had never been at stake.

His uncle sighed loudly, pulling Zuko from his reverie. He glanced over to see the old man stretching and winced as he heard his uncle's joints _pop _like firecrackers. "This is what I have been missing," he said, seemingly to himself. The attendant continued rubbing his shoulders, as if he were smoothing a piece of clay. "Who knew floating on a piece of driftwood for three weeks with no food or water, and sea vultures waiting to peck out your liver, could make one so tense?"

Zuko's single eyebrow rose. They hadn't even been floating on driftwood for three _hours_ before the rescue ship had picked them up. If anything, the tension in his uncle's back wouldn't have gotten bad until after they'd freed the girl and had to spend the next couple weeks tolerating her demanding complaints and withering remarks. _She _was the one causing all the stress.

From the corner of his eye, he saw his uncle sit up and slide off the massage table. "That will be all for now," he told the attendants. "If it is no trouble, I think I will spend a few hours quietly reflecting in the hot springs."

The attendants apparently recognized his words as a dismissal, since they bowed and headed back inside. As soon as they were gone, his uncle walked over and sat across from him, his expression sober. "I see. It is the anniversary, isn't it?"

His jaw tightened. "Three years ago today, I was banished," he said, forcing his voice to stay steady, to reveal none of the turmoil he felt. "I lost everything. I want it back. And I'm in a better position now than ever to do it." He tilted his head up, wishing the room they were staying in had a west-facing window so he might catch a glimpse of the waterbender. But it didn't, and he probably wouldn't have been able to see her from this angle even if she'd been awake and standing in plain view. "We'll need to keep our ears open for rumors. The whole world knows the Avatar is out there. Word of his location is going to find us sooner or later, but if we ask around and find a lead before anyone else, that will give us an advantage."

His uncle studied him for a long moment, then nodded. "Have you figured out how to lure the Avatar to us without being attacked from behind by our guest? We cannot keep her in chains, lest we drive her away, and we do not know when, precisely, we will find the Avatar. I fear that if we try to restrain her before we cross paths with our target, she will only resist more strongly when we do encounter the Avatar."

"I'll find a way to make it work," he said. "He won't slip away from me this time. I know his strengths now. If I can hold onto him long enough to restrain him properly, we can take him to the Fire Nation and I can regain my rightful place as heir to the throne."

His uncle looked at him, then in the direction of their room. "Do not lose yourself in the pursuit of your goals, Nephew. There are few things more painful than realizing you have gotten what you want at the cost of sacrificing who you are."

"I'm not losing myself," he said irritably. "I'm using the resources available to me." _He doesn't understand, _Zuko thought._ He can go home any time he wants. I can't. Of course he wouldn't understand. _"I'm going back upstairs. I have things to unpack." He'd just ignore the waterbender. He could do that. It wasn't as if he actually _wanted _to watch her sleep.

His uncle brightened. "So you _did _go shopping! Excellent. Did you find any good bargains?"

"I bought what we needed," he said sharply. "We have to carry everything for ourselves until we can get a new ship. We don't have room for luxuries." Not waiting for a response, he stalked back into the inn and headed upstairs, pausing only briefly outside the door. _I__gnore the girl. She's just a peasant. _He opened the door and stepped inside, only glancing at her to verify that she hadn't fled while he'd been out. She'd rolled onto her side, exposing the smooth skin of her abdomen, the little dip of her navel. She'd managed to kick aside the last of the sheets covering her, baring her thighs and calves.

_Stop looking, _Zuko commanded himself, the back of his neck warming. He grabbed one of the nondescript brown shirts he'd purchased for himself, plus a pair of pants that more or less matched. It annoyed him to realize that, despite being the best room the inn had to offer, there was no adjoining privy for him to step into while he changed clothes. One of many reasons he hated small towns, he thought, glancing at the waterbender again. He _could _wake her up and tell her to go stand out in the hallway, but then he'd have to deal with her attitude the rest of the day. Better to change clothes quietly before she woke.

Facing away from her, he stripped off his worn-out red shirt and the pants that went with it, leaving both in a pile at his feet. Despite the lack of bathrooms, he figured there would at least be some sort of laundry service here. In fact, the innkeeper would probably jump at the chance to do his laundry, considering the way he scraped and bowed every time Zuko or his uncle came within sight of him.

He was just about to remove his underwear in favor of a fresh pair when he felt the touch of eyes on his back. His spine went rigid, his inner fire flaring up so the air around him rose ten degrees. Slowly, he turned his head to see the waterbender gawking at him from the bed, her eyes as round as dinner plates. The temperature in the room climbed a few more degrees before he managed to calm the fire churning in his gut. "Stop staring," he snapped, and she jerked back as if he'd slapped her. Her dark cheeks had reddened, contrasting the deep blue of her eyes, and a different sort of fire stirred to life within him. He turned away sharply, pulling on one of his new pairs of pants and tossing the tunic he'd bought her over his shoulder. "Get dressed. You're distracting me."

For a few seconds, there was silence. Then he heard the hiss of fabric sliding against itself, the sound of her shoving the sheets back into place, as if she were ashamed that he'd caught her sleeping half-naked. Which she probably was, he thought as he yanked a shirt over his head. If she'd caught _him _in bed half-naked, _he'd _be embarrassed. It was bad enough she'd caught him in the midst of changing clothes. Worse still that in the moment their eyes had met, he'd felt something more than embarrassment.

Better to put it out of his mind, he decided. Better to never think about her like that again.


End file.
